Skip to main content

Full text of "Modern Drummer Issue 122"

See other formats 


Plus:  •  New  Pedals 

•  Ageless  Rock  Beats 

•  On  The  Soundstage 
With  Emil  Richards 

•  Photo  Gallery  Debut 


The  High-Quality  Tradition  of  Ludwig  Snares. 


To  be  the  best  drummer  you  can  be.  you  need  the  best  possible  drums. 
That’s  why  so  many  Lop  drummers  choose  Ludwig  snares.  Ludwig  snares 
are  quality-crafted  to  give  drummers  the  strength  and  versatility  they 
need,  with  the  sound  they  demand.  Ludwig’s  newly 
designed  piccolo  snare  follows  that  same  tradition. 


The  High-Knd  Pop  of  a  Piccolo  Snare. 

Built  to  the  original  3"x  13"  size  pioneered  by  Ludwig, 
the  new  piccolo  adds  a  crisp,  high  sound  to  your  music.  It 
makes  a  great  jazz/fusion  and  concert  drum,  and  a  great 
auxiliary  drum  for  rock  and  studio  work.  Whatever  music 
you  play,  you'll  appreciate  the  strength  of  the  redesigned 
high-tension  lugs,  the  heavy-gauge  batter  and  snare  hoops, 
and  the  dependable  new  snare  strainer  with  lever  throw- 
off  action. 


New  Ludwig  pices  come  in  brighter-sounding  bronze  shells, 
or  in  Classic  6-Ply  Maple  for  drummers  who  prefer  a  warmer. 


richer  tone. 


\sk  to  see  them  both  at  your  local  Ludwig  dealer. 


\  Sc  I  nut  Company  *  l*U  Ko\  BIO  *  Llkharl  IN  Hklir* 


Hbu  con  fee/  it, 

smooth ,  fast ,  powerful  feel  of  Drum 
Workshop  s  5000  Turbo  Bass  Drum  Pedal.  A  feeling 
that  comes  from  DW's  patented  Chain  &  Sprocket 
system.  The  multi- tooth  sprocket  and  chain  design 
aflows  the  footboard  and  beater  to  move  back  and 
forth  in  constant  unison;  keeping  the  pedal  in  perfect 
ba/ance  and  keeping  the  beat  feeling  great. 

Made  in  the  USA  and  backed  by  a  5  year 
limited  warranty  the  Turbo  Pedal  features  an 
exclusive  super- smooth  Turbo  rocker  hub 
and  bearing  assembly  as  well  as  the 
increased  strength  and  stability  of  DWs 
original  one-piece  pedal  plate. 

There's  a  complete  list  of  available 
options  and  accessories  -  from  solid 


and  split  footboards  to  toe-stops  and  twin  springs  - 
so  you  can  customize  your  pedal  to  get  the  exact 
feel  you  want  and,  for  precise ,  dynamic  triggering  of 
electronic  sounds  from  your  acoustic  bass  drum,  DW 
even  offers  a  recently  updated  version  of  their  Turbo 
"E"  bass  drum/trigger  pedol  (inset)  with  a  wider 
dynamic  range  and  stronger  signal  output 

But  the  bottom  line  is  this :  you  can't  copy  a 
feeling.  IPs  a  simple  fact  that  no  other 
bass  drum  pedal  feels  as  good  as  a  DW  Turbo. 
That's  why  so  many  of  today's  fop  players  play 
it.  And ,  no  matter  what  kind  of  feel  you 
play  -  swing ,  funk,  latin  or  rock, 
that's  why  you  should  be  playing 
a  Turbo,  too. 


DW  5000  TURBO 
BASS  DRUM  PEDAL 


Shown  above*  5000  Turbo  Boss  Drum  Pedol. 
Also  a  variable  5000CX  and  5000N. 


For  a  copy  of  our  new,  full-color  catalog  send  $3  for  postage  and  handling  along  with  your  name  and  address  to: 

Drum  Workshop,  fnc,  •  2697  La  very  Court,  Unit  16  *  Newbury  Park,  CA  91320 


Cover  Photo  by  Leslie  Burke 


difiWiirre.- 


era 

A  long  stint  with  Frank  Zappa  has  given  Ed  Mann  the 
opportunity  to  improvise  and  experiment  with  percussion 
in  a  multitude  of  ways.  Here,  Ed  shares  some  of  what  he 
has  learned  along  the  way,  and  discusses  his  first  solo 
album,  his  work  with  the  Repercussion  Unit,  and  the 
role  of  the  percussionist  and  of  electronics  in  music. 

by  Rick  Mattingly 


ED  MANN 


STEVE  RILEY 


One  might  not  expect  the  drummer  from  such  bands 
as  Keel,  WASP,  and  L.A.  Guns  to  consider  jazz  his  real 
passion,  but  that's  just  one  of  the  ironies  of  Steve  Riley. 

In  this  interview,  Steve  also  talks  about  some  of  the  highs 
and  lows  of  the  music  business  he  has  encountered,  and 
the  lessons  he  has  learned  from  them. 


by  Robyn  Flans 


As  one  of  the  more  sought-after  big  band  drummers  in 
New  York,  Alvin  Stoller  worked  with,  among  others,  the 
bands  of  Benny  Goodman,  Tommy  Dorsey,  and  Charlie 
Spivak.  In  the  40  years  since  he  moved  out  west,  Stoller 
has  backed  up  singers  and  movie  stars  like  Ella  Fitzgerald, 
Billie  Holiday,  Gene  Kelly,  and  Fred  Astaire,  and  has  done 
endless  TV,  radio,  and  movie  scores.  Here  Stoller  reflects 
on  his  career  and  talks  about  the  music  business  he  is  still 
very  much  a  part  of. 

by  Burt  Korall 


MD  SOUND  SUPPLEMENT 

ED  MANN  FEATURING 

CHAD  WACKERMAN 


Notes  and  transcribed  examples  of  Ed  Mann's  and  Chad 
Wackerman's  parts  from  "This  Is  Tomorrow,"  from  Mann's 
solo  album  Get  Up. 


VOLUME  14,  NUMBER  1 


UAIJk' 


ld.HWJ.JMJI 


ROCK  'N'  JAZZ 
CLINIC 

Double  Strokes,  Triple 
Strokes,  Accents,  and 

More _ 

by  Rod  Morgenstein 

46 


CONCEPTS 

Frustration 

by  Roy  Bums 

48 


ROCK 

PERSPECTIVES 

The  Ageless  Beats  Of 

Rock  'N'  Roll _ 

by  Kenny  Aronoff 

60 


I35TITT3J!T3Jn 

PRODUCT 

CLOSE-UP 

The  Black  Max  Pedal 
by  Rick  Van  Horn 

38 

The  Vruk 

by  Bob  Saydlowski,  Jr. 

39 

The  Upbeat  Pedal 

by  Rick  Van  Horn 

40 


ELECTRONIC 

REVIEW 

Different  Drummer 
by  Norman  Weinberg 

42 


ROCK  CHARTS 

Phil  Jones:  "Runnin' 
Down  A  Dream" 


Transcribed  by 
William  F.  Miller 


SHOP  TALK 

Drums:  An  Engineering 

Analysis:  Part  2 _ 

by  Spiros  A.  Psarris 

50 


KT7ST31V3S 

UP&COMING 

Billy  Goodness 
by  Michael  Lee  Briggs 

62 


EDITOR'S 

OVERVIEW 


UPDATE 


INDUSTRY 

HAPPENINGS 


READERS' 

PLATFORM 

6 


8  ASK  A  PRO 


12 


92 


ITS 

QUESTIONABLE 

14 


DRUMLINE 

106 


64 


TRACKING 

'Tis  The  Season  Of  The 

Sequel _ 

by  Emil  Richards 

78 


NEW  AND 
NOTABLE 


ON  TAPE 


96 


DRUM  MARKET 

108 

PHOTO  GALLERY 

112 


^DITOR'S 

^Werview 


The  Classifieds 

Classified  advertising  has  been  a  part  of  Modern  Drummer  since 
our  very  first  year  of  publication.  Drum  Market  is  the  place  in  the 
magazine  where  one  can  quickly  locate  everything  from  used 
gear,  vintage  equipment,  and  study  materials,  to  a  drum  teacher  or 
even  a  gig. 

Interestingly,  Drum  Market  is  one  of  the  most  well-read  sections 
of  the  magazine  each  month.  Readers  are  usually  invited  to  call  or 
write  for  further  information,  or  to  send  a  nominal  fee  fora  catalog 
or  brochure.  Drum  Market  is  also  appealing  in  that  it  tends  to 
encompass  the  lower  end  of  the  cost  spectrum  for  the  budget¬ 
conscious  buyer. 

Occasionally,  small  problems  will  arise  with  classifieds,  as  they 
do  for  most  widely  circulated  international  publications  that  choose 
to  publish  them.  Because  Drum  Market  is  made  up  of  a  substantial 
amount  of  smaller  ads  that  generally  arrive  close  to  each  month's 
deadline,  it's  virtually  impossible  for  us  to  screen  them  all.  In  most 
cases  we  must  assume  that  the  advertiser  is  making  an  honest  offer 
and  will  do  well  by  his  customer.  Unfortunately,  very  few  national 
magazines  and  newspapers  have  the  time  or  manpower  to  screen 
classifieds,  and  readers  should  be  aware  of  this. 

However,  I  think  it's  important  to  mention  that  considering  the 
thousands  of  ads  that  have  appeared  in  Drum  Market  over  the 
years,  we've  had  a  remarkably  small  percentage  of  complaints.  I 
think  it's  safe  to  say  that  the  overwhelming  majority  of  Drum 
Market  advertisers  are  sincere  drum  industry  people,  anxious  to 
meet  their  obligation  to  readers. 

Of  course,  every  industry  has  that  small  group  who  never  seem 
to  fit  into  that  description.  And  on  occasion,  one  bad  apple  can  get 
in  among  the  good  ones  and  cast  a  bad  reflection  on  the  rest.  Most 
mail-order  advertisers  are  aware  that  failing  to  be  totally  upright 
with  their  customers  comes  under  the  heading  of  mail  fraud — a 
pretty  serious  federal  Offense.  Those  who  are  not  aware  of  it  are 
quickly  enlightened.  Still,  some  people  just  love  to  test  the  limits  of 
the  law.  Obviously,  when  that  occurs,  it's  our  full  responsibility  to 
weed  them  out  of  the  magazine. 

Should  you  ever  have  a  legitimate  complaint  with  a  classified 
advertiser,  please  don't  hesitate  to  contact  our  Advertising 
Department  at  once.  A  complaint  can  range  from  not  receiving  the 
merchandise  you  paid  for  to  being  fed  misleading  information 
through  false  advertising.  Be  sure  to  supply  us  with  the  advertiser's 
name  and  address,  the  issue  in  which  the  ad  appeared,  the  items 
ordered  and  the  date  you  ordered  them,  and  copies  of  all  cancelled 
checks  or  correspondence.  This  information  will  enable  us  to  go  to 
bat  for  you  in  the  most  efficient  manner  possible. 

Again,  I  do  want  to  stress  that  we've  had  an  extremely  limited 
number  of  problems  with  Drum  Market  advertisers  in  14  years  of 
publishing  MD — probably  less  than  1%.  Personally,  I  think  that 
alone  says  something  pretty  good  about  the  integrity  of  our  industry 
as  a  whole.  Nonetheless,  we  certainly  want  to  be  advised  of  any 
problems  if  and  when  they  do  arise. 

* 


EDITOR/PUBLISHER 

Ronald  Spagnardi 

ASSOCIATE  PUBLISHER 

Isabel  Spagnardi 

SENIOR  EDITOR 

Rick  Mattingly 

MANAGING  EDITOR 

Rick  Van  Horn 

ASSOCIATE  EDITORS 
William  F.  Miller 
Adam  Budofsky 

EDITORIAL  ASSISTANT 

Cynthia  Huang 

ART  DIRECTOR 

Terry  Kennedy 

ASSISTANT  ART  DIRECTOR 

Scott  G.  Bienstock 

ADMINISTRATIVE  MANAGER 

Tracy  Kearney 

ADMINISTRATIVE  ASSISTANT 

Joan  C.  Stickel 

ADVERTISING  DIRECTOR 

Bob  Berenson 

DEALER  SERVICE  MANAGER 

Crystal  W.  Van  Horn 

MAILROOM  SUPERVISOR 

Leo  Spagnardi 

CONSULTANT 
TO  THE  PUBLISHER 

Arnold  E.  Abramson 


MODERN  DRUMMER 
ADVISORY  BOARD 

Henry  Adler,  Kenny  Aronoff, 

Louie  Bellson,  Bill  Bruford,  Roy 
Burns,  Jim  Chapin,  Alan  Dawson, 
Dennis  DeLucia,  Les  DeMerle, 

Len  DiMuzio,  Charlie  Donnelly, 
Peter  Erskine,  Vic  Firth,  Danny 
Gottlieb,  Sonny  Igoe,  Jim  Keltner, 
Mel  Lewis,  Larrie  Londin,  Peter 
Magadini,  George  Marsh,  Joe 
Morello,  Andy  Newmark,  Neil 
Peart,  Charlie  Perry,  Dave  Samuels, 
John  Santos,  Ed  Shaughnessy,  Steve 
Smith,  Ed  Thigpen. 

CONTRIBUTING  WRITERS 

Susan  Alexander,  Robyn  Flans, 
Simon  Goodwin,  Karen  Ervin 
Pershing,  Jeff  Potter,  Teri  Saccone, 
Robert  Santelli,  Robin  Tolleson, 
Lauren  Vogel,  T.  Bruce  Wittet. 

MODERN  DRUMMER  Magazine 

(ISSN  0194-4533)  is  published 
monthly  with  an  additional  issue 
in  July  by  MODERN  DRUMMER 
Publications,  Inc.,  870  Pompton 
Avenue,  Cedar  Grove,  NJ  07009. 
Second-Class  Postage  paid  at 
Cedar  Grove,  NJ  07009  and  at 
additional  mailing  offices.  Copy¬ 
right  1990  by  Modern  Drummer 
Publications,  Inc.  All  rights 
reserved.  Reproduction  without  the 
permission  of  the  publisher  is 
prohibited. 

EDITORIAL/ADVERTISING/ 
ADMINISTRATIVE  OFFICES: 

Modern  Drummer  Publications, 

870  Pompton  Avenue,  Cedar 
Grove,  NJ  07009. 

MANUSCRIPTS:  Modern  Drummer 
welcomes  manuscripts,  however, 
cannot  assume  responsibility  for 
them.  Manuscripts  must  be  accom¬ 
panied  by  a  self-addressed, 
stamped  envelope. 

MUSIC  DEALERS:  Modern  Drum¬ 
mer  is  available  for  resale  at  bulk 
rates.  Direct  correspondence  to 
Modern  Drummer,  Dealer  Service, 
870  Pompton  Ave.,  Cedar  Grove, 
NJ  07009.  Tel:  800-522-DRUM  or 
201-239-4140. 


SUBSCRIPTIONS:  $25.95  per  year;  $46.95,  two  years. 

Single  copies  $2.95. 

SUBSCRIPTION  CORRESPONDENCE:  Modern  Drummer,  P.O.  Box 
480,  Mount  Morris,  IL  61054-0480.  Change  of  address:  Allow  at  least 
six  weeks  for  a  change.  Please  provide  both  old  and  new  address.  Toll 
Free  Phone:  1-800-435-0715. 

POSTMASTER:  Send  address  changes  to  Modern  Drummer,  P.O.  Box 
480.  Mt.  Morris.  IL  61054. 


A  Member  Of: 

APA 

Magazine  Publishers  of  America 


ISSUE  DATE:  January  1990 


4 


MODERN  DRUMMER 


READERS’  PLATFORM 


JACK  DeJOHNETTE 

Rick  Mattingly's  interview  with  Jack 
DeJohnette  in  your  October  issue  was 
complete,  incisive,  and  well-written.  Jack's 
comments  were  illuminating  and  entertain¬ 
ing.  What  more  could  be  asked  of  a  maga¬ 
zine  cover  story?  Thanks  for  the  excellent 
article. 

Chuck  Gilspeth 
Baltimore  MD 

Except  for  his  name  in  a  couple  of  ads,  I'd 
never  heard  of  Jack  DeJohnette.  I  have  never 
heard  him  play.  I'm  a  hard-rock  drummer, 
and  jazz  drummers  have  never  interested 
me.  But  DeJohnette's  comments  seemed  to 
cover  a  lot  of  ground;  he  seems  pretty  open 
to  a  lot  of  things.  Every  so  often  one  of  your 
stories  reminds  me  that  drummers  outside 
of  rock  have  something  to  say — musically 
or  verbally — that  might  be  useful  to  me, 
too.  Thanks  for  the  info  on  Jack;  I  just  might 
check  him  out. 

Billy  Baducah 
Tyler  TX 

RICHARD  BAILEY 

I've  been  waiting  to  read  about  Richard 
Bailey  for  many  years,  since  I  heard  him 
play  on  Beck's  Blow  By  Blow.  I  have  to  say 
that  it  seems  a  bit  of  a  musical  comedown 
that  he's  now  playing  for  the  likes  of  Billy 
Ocean,  but  I  suppose  a  gig  is  a  gig  for  any 
of  us.  Anyway,  thanks  very  much  for  the 
article.  I  really  enjoyed  getting  all  the  back¬ 
ground  on  Richard  and  his  ethnic  influ¬ 
ences. 

John  Filmer 
Redding  CA 

THE  GHOST  QUESTION 

A  recent  It's  Questionable  item  (October 
'89)  discussed  the  Ghost  bass  drum  pedal. 
I'd  like  to  add  my  comments.  In  early  1975, 


I  bought  a  Ghost ,  and  found  that  it  was 
quicker  than  the  Speed  King  I'd  been  us¬ 
ing  for  the  previous  13  years.  A  couple  of 
years  later,  I  decided  to  buy  a  second 
Ghost,  since  I  wanted  a  spare  at  gigs  and 
to  use  for  practice.  So  in  late  1977  I  bought 
a  Ludwig  Ghost.  Although  it  did  look  the 
same,  the  action — even  after  weeks  of  play¬ 
ing — was  nowhere  near  that  of  the  origi¬ 
nal  pedal.  Spring  adjustment  did  not  help 
the  problem,  and  I  ended  up  trading  the 
second  pedal  back  to  the  dealer. 

My  original  Ghost  has  been  played  al¬ 
most  every  day  for  14  years,  and  the  only 
problem  I've  ever  had  is  worn  footboard- 
to-beater  straps.  If  I  can't  find  these,  I  make 
them.  I  do  not  change  spring  tension,  since 
this  causes  the  beater  to  drastically  change 
angle.  I  use  this  pedal  for  all  my  playing 
and  practicing,  and  it  has  been  on  the  set 
at  numerous  jam  sessions  where  it  has  en¬ 
dured  lots  of  hard  playing.  (One  guy  broke 
a  new  head  with  it.)  Some  players  love  it 
and  others  can't  use  it,  but  all  agree  that  it 
/squick. 

I  suggest  that  Ludwig  "de-improve"  the 
tooling,  or  correct  whatever  it  was  that 
made  their  model  different  from  the  origi¬ 
nal.  Then  they  could  reissue  the  Ghost 
and  have  two  great  pedals  to  offer.  I'll  take 
a  dozen. 

Mike  Moody 
Bloomington  IN 

BOBBY  PREVITE 

Thank  you  for  the  wonderfully  insightful, 
entertaining,  and  inspiring  interview  with 
Bobby  Previte.  [September  '89  MD]  I  am 
greatly  sympathetic  to  his  thoughts  and 
words  and  am  equally  grateful  to  Modern 
Drummer  for  printing  them.  My  heartfelt 
appreciation  to  you  both. 

Alex  Cline 
Santa  Monica  CA 


REFLECTIONS  OF  A  NEW  YORK 
PRODUCER 

I  would  like  to  compliment  the  article  by 
Joe  Ferry  in  the  August  issue  entitled  "Re¬ 
flections  Of  A  New  York  Producer."  I  thor¬ 
oughly  enjoyed  reading  about  his  perspec¬ 
tive  on  some  of  the  great  drummers  he  has 
worked  with.  It  gave  me  a  greater  appre¬ 
ciation  for  drummers  like  Steve  Gadd  and 
shows  just  how  proficient  and  professional 
they  can  be  even  under  adverse  conditions 
(such  as  working  with  a  producer  who 
neglected  to  include  a  drum  chart  for  him 
on  a  tough  piece  of  music!).  Having  non¬ 
drummers  in  the  industry  talk  about  our 
heros'  adventures  in  the  drumming  world 
adds  fresh  perspective  to  our  idols.  Please 
give  us  more  in  the  future! 

Gord  Kribs 
Bowmanville,  Ontario,  Canada 

THANKS  FROM  JOHN 

I  was  both  pleased  and  surprised  to  learn 
that  I  was  one  of  the  winners  of  the  July 
MD  Trivia  Contest  and  that  I  would  be 
receiving  the  great  set  of  products  from  JT. 
Enterprises.  Many  thanks  to  Modern  Drum- 
merfor  running  these  enjoyable  and  chal¬ 
lenging  trivia  contests. 

I  have  been  a  subscriber  to  MD  since  its 
very  first  issue,  and  I  can't  begin  to  tell  you 
what  an  invaluable  source  of  both  infor¬ 
mation  and  inspiration  it  has  been  to  me. 
Almost  every  day  it  seems  that  I  am  dig¬ 
ging  through  back  issues  simply  for  enjoy¬ 
ment  or  to  find  some  article  to  show  to  one 
of  my  drum  students.  As  a  teaching  aid, 
MD  is  impossible  to  beat.  The  balance  of 
topics  and  material  is  always  perfect  and  (I 
can't  say  this  about  every  other  magazine 
that  I  read)  there  has  never  been  even  one 
issue  from  which  I  did  not  learn  something 
new.  MD  is  a  great  publication;  keep  up 

continued  on  page  104 


ATCHEDGRIP. 


One  good  grip  deserves  another.  So  we  designed  The  Stick  as  a  perfect  match  to  your 
grip.  No  matter  what  you  play  or  how  you  play  it,  it’s  got  the  Yamaha  difference. 
Absolutely  consistent.  Superior  American  hickory.  Perfectly  balanced. 

Smooth  natural  satin  finish. 

Yamaha  difference.  You’ve  finally  met  your  match. 


MAH  A  DRUMS 

Copyright  1989  Yamaha  Corporation  of  America.  Synthesizer,  Guitar  and  Drum  Division,  6600  Orangethorpe  Ave  ,  Buena  Park,  CA  90620 


6 


MODERN  DRUMMER 


Here  it  is... a  sure  fire  way  to  get  more  bang  for  your 
buck!  The  TAMA/SABIAN  BIG  DEAL. 

Tama,  the  worlds  leading  quality  rock  n  roll  drum 
company  has  teamed  up  with  Sabian.  the 
only  dedicated  cymbal  manufacturer 
to  offer  you  this  incredible  deal.  Buy 
any  Tama  Rockstar  kit  and  save  up  to 
$120.00  on  the  following  set  of  red 
hot  B8  Sabjan  cymbals:  one  pair  of 
lightning  fast  14"  hi  hats,  plus  an  ear 
splitting  20"  ride.  Now  that  is  a  big  deal! 


The  TAMA/SABIAN  BIG  DEAL- hot  sounding  drums 
and  cymbals  at  a  cool  price  you  won  t  find  anywhere 
but  your  authorized  Tama  dealer. 


The  Tanm/ Sabian  8tcj  Deal  cymbal  package  is  available  only  willi  the  pt  a  re  base 
ol  a  Tama  Rockslaf  drum  set  Tins  offer  is  valid  al  participating  authorised 
Tama  dealers  only  and  expires  December  31  1989 


HTAIWA 


For  a  FREE  copy  ol  Tamas  new 
RS  tine  eatatog.  send  your  name 
and  address  on  a  postcard  lo 
TAMA  Dept.  RSMD8.  P.O. 

8ox886.Bensatem.PA  19020- 3221  Producer  Way.  Pomona.  CA9176&  3916  *  P.O. 
Box  2009  Idaho  Falls  ID  83403.  In  Canada:  6969  Trans  Canada  Highway,  Suite 
105.  Si.  Lauren  I,  Quebec,  Canada  H4T1V0. 


UPDATE 


Glenn 

Symmonds 

Glenn  Symmonds  has  had  a 
hectic  year  with  Eddie  Money, 
with  whom  he  has  been  for  the 
past  four  years.  "I  had  been 
playing  in  town  with  the  Un¬ 
touchables,  and  Eddie  was  in 
town  auditioning  drummers. 

He  came  to  one  of  our  shows 
and  came  backstage  and 
offered  me  the  job.  I  turned 
him  down,  but  he  eventually 
talked  me  into  it.  At  that  time,  I 
had  heard  so  many  stories 
about  Eddie  being  messed  up 
on  drugs,  so  it  was  important 
for  me  to  find  out  that  he 
wasn't  doing  that.  Once  I 
found  out  he  was  clean  and 
sober,  it  worked  out  great.  Af¬ 
ter  all  this  time,  I'm  the  band 
leader,  meaning  that  I  put  the 
band  together  and  represent 
the  band." 

Musically,  what  Money 
needs  from  Glenn  is  a  suppor¬ 
tive  drummer.  "He's  a  singer, 
so  he  doesn't  want  somebody 
who  is  going  to  get  in  the  way. 
It's  very  simple  rock;  I  call  it 
meat  and  potatoes  rock.  Yet 
there  are  some  things  we  do 
with  sequencers  and  more 
modern  technology.  The  music 
needs  authority  and  convic¬ 
tion — leadership — and  he 
needs  somebody  who  really 
establishes  the  time  and  the 
feeling  of  his  music.  He  just 
requires  a  solid  beat  and  gives 
me  space  to  do  what  I  need  to 
do." 

At  one  point  during 
concerts,  the  band  leaves  the 
stage,  giving  Glenn  ten 
minutes  to  do  a  solo  at  the  be¬ 
ginning  of  "Shakin."  To  Glenn, 
a  good  solo  is  "communicating 
to  somebody,  making  some¬ 
body  in  that  audience  react.  I 
have  a  skeleton  of  a  solo,  and  I 
dress  that  skeleton  for  the 
evening  the  way  I  feel, 
whether  it's  putting  on  a 
different  pair  of  shoes  or  a 
different  shirt,  or  dressing  that 
skeleton  with  earrings  and 
lipstick — who  knows?  Each 
night  it's  a  little  different,"  he 
says,  adding  that  "Baby  Hold 
On"  and  "Walk  On  Water"  are 
also  favorites  of  his  to  play. 

As  for  the  records,  Glenn 
says  he's  gotten  to  do  some 
recording  with  Money,  but  that 


"That's  one  of  the  political 
sides  of  the  music  business 
that  people  don't  really  hear 
about  a  lot  of  times.  Eddie  may 
really  want  me  to  do  a  record, 
but  the  producer  might  say, 
'Hey,  I've  got  my  own  guys  I 
use  on  all  my  records.'  That's 
unfortunate,  but  he  is  hope¬ 
fully  going  to  allow  me  to  play 
on  the  two  new  tracks  he's 
going  to  add  to  his  greatest-hits 
package." 

In  his  spare  time,  Glenn 
plays  with  the  International 
Reggae  All  stars  (Peter  Tosh's 
band),  leads  a  celebrity  golf 
tournament  each  week  with 
drummers  from  all  over  the 
southland  (California,  that  is), 
and  teaches  between  15  and 
25  students  each  week  he's 
home. 

— Robyn  Flans 

Adam 

Nussbaum 


Since  the  early  part  of  1987 
Adam  Nussbaum  has  been 
touring  the  USA  and  Europe 
with  Michael  Brecker's  band. 
Just  before  their  appearance  at 
the  Northsea  Jazz  Festival  in 
Holland — this  year  visited  by 
55,000  people — Adam  related 
what  was  in  store  for  the  band 
in  the  near  future:  "We're  just 
finishing  up  our  European  tour 
now.  Then  we'll  go  to  Japan  to 
play  a  large  festival  there, 
called  Live  Under  The  Sky, 
featuring  Roberta  Flack,  Ernie 
Watts,  and  the  big  Ellington 
retrospective.  That's  about 
seven  gigs  throughout  Japan 
and  Hong  Kong."  Adam  says 
he  enjoys  playing  in  Michael's 
band  very  much.  "It's  a  lot  of 
fun,  musically  speaking.  The 
best  way  to  describe  it  would 
be  as  a  'Bop  &  Roll'  band, 


because  we  play  some  serious 
jazz  as  well  as  some  serious 
kind  of  backbeat  music.  All  the 
musicians  [Mike  Stern  on 
guitar,  pianist  Joey  Calderazo, 
Jeff  Andrews  on  bass,  and  of 
course  Brecker  on  sax]  are 
very  strong.  This  group  is  a 
chance  for  me  to  utilize  a  lot 
of  my  musical  influences,  and 
to  bring  forth  a  lot  of  the  music 
that  I  like  to  play,  in  just  one 
band.  Everybody  plays  the  shit 
out  of  it  in  this  group;  every¬ 
body  is  really  throwing  it 
down. 

"Next  to  this  band  I've  also 
been  doing  a  lot  of  free¬ 
lancing  and  recording  with 
different  people,"  Adam 
continues.  "I  just  did  the  first 
Blue  Note  album  by  Rick 
Margitza,  who's  playing  tenor 
in  Miles  Davis's  band  now.  I 
also  did  a  record  with  bebop 
singer  Jackie  Paris,  and  one 
with  Tom  Harrell,  who  used  to 
play  in  Phil  Woods'  band. 
Those  are  all  jazz  recordings, 
but  I  like  to  cover  a  lot  of 
territory.  Some  things  satisfy 
needs  that  are  just  not  satisfied 
in  other  situations.  Like 
playing  in  an  acoustic  piano 
trio:  Then  I  can  pull  out  the 
old  K's,  which  I  can't  do  in  an 
electric  band.  It's  hitting  at  a 
different  dynamic  level.  To  be 
able  to  achieve  the  intensity  in 
a  small  group  as  well  as  in  a 
big  one  requires  different 
concepts,  different  kinds  of 
dynamic  control." 

Adam  was  also  involved 
with  a  European  big  band  run 
by  Swiss  pianist  George 
Gruntz.  "We  did  a  little  tour  in 
May,  and  we  recorded  the 
group,"  Adam  explains.  "He 
usually  gets  musicians  from  all 
over  the  world  and  puts  it 
together,  like  an  all-star  big 
band.  He's  done  a  lot  of 
writing,  and  he's  been  active 
in  the  scene  here  in  Europe, 
being  involved  with  classical 
projects  as  well.  Last  year  we 
did  a  jazz-opera  with  the 
Hamburg  State  Opera,  which 
was  called  Cosmopolitan 
Greetings  and  featured  a 
sextet,  including  three  singers, 
on  stage.  Furthermore,  there 
were  two  dancers,  a  big  band 
off  stage,  and  an  orchestra. 

Dee  Dee  Bridgewater  was 
involved,  as  were  vocalist 
Marc  Murphy,  trumpeter  Don 


Cherry,  and  Larry  Schneider  on 
saxes.  It  was  an  interesting 
project,  coordinated  by  Robert 
Wilson,  who  is  known  for  his 
modern  multimedia  events. 
We're  talking  about  doing  it 
again  in  1990,  maybe  as  an 
international  production. 
Another  of  my  future  projects 
is  an  idea  of  pianist/composer 
Jim  McNeely's  that  we'll  do 
together  with  John  Scofield 
and  Marc  Johnson." 

— Hugo  Pinksterboer 

Martyn  Barker 

Although  Martyn  Barker  is  a 
member  of  King  Swamp  and 
has  recently  completed  their 
album,  he  has  also  recently 
done  projects  for  Shriekback 
(Go  Bang!),  Karl  Marsh, 
Annabel  Lamb,  and  World 
Party.  On  King  Swamp's  self- 
titled  effort  and  Shriekback's 
current  release,  particularly, 
Barker  added  a  great  deal  of 
his  input. 

"With  the  likes  of 
Shriekback,  I  was  more 
involved  in  getting  a  different 
rhythm  with  lots  of  percussion. 
When  we  were  doing  live 
shows,  the  intention  was  to  get 
people  to  move,  to  dance  and 
keep  that  energy  level.  All 
their  rhythms  are  linear;  there 
are  no  fills  or  anything  like  that 
at  all.  With  Shriekback,  it's  a 
bit  more  intricate  and  jazzy 
than  with  King  Swamp. 

"King  Swamp  has  a  lot  of 
high-energy  stuff,"  Martyn 
continues.  "Take  for  instance 
'Original  Man,'  which  is  a  very 
fast  4/4  groove  and  which 
really  has  to  flow.  It  has  sort  of 
a  difficult  rhythm  to  do.  I  was 
working  on  getting  that  rhythm 
movable  for  the  song  and 
making  it  different  as  well.  If 
you  take  Mel  Gaynor's 
drumming  with  Simple  Minds, 
when  he  does  a  rock  beat,  he 
pushes  16ths  on  the  hi-hat, 
which  kind  of  drives  it. 

'Original  Man'  is  very  similar 
to  that,  but  there  are  quarters 
and  8ths,  and  we  have  an 
accent  on  the  bass  drum,  just 
before  the  four-in-the-bar  beat. 
It  kind  of  pushes  it  along  and 
makes  it  really  exciting. 
Meanwhile,  the  bass  guitar  is 
doing  8ths.  I  also  did  a  bit  of 
programming  on  the  album. 
And  there  is  a  lot  of  percus- 


0 


MODERN  DRUMMER 


Now  You're  A  Dollar 
Closer  To  Perfection 


If  you're  a  serious  drummer,  then  you  already  know  that  Sonor  drums  are  devasfatingly  close 
to  perfection.  And  you  also  know  they're  very  expensive. 

But  you  may  not  know  why  they  are  so  expensive.  Its  the  defai/s  that  give  Sonor  the  quality  that 
no  other  drum  can  equal  They  look  it  and  they  sound  it.  And  that  dedication  to  quality  doesn't 
come  at  bargain  prices.  So  Sonors  may  be  a  bit  harder  to  acquire. 

But  once  you've  played  on  them  there's  no  turning  back. 


Anyway,  there  is  something  we  can  do  for  you.  Simply  visit  your  Sonor  dealer!  Check  out  our 
drums  and  well  send  you  a  dollar.  You  can  even  use  it  towards  your  first  set. 

Now  what  ore  you  waiting  for? 


AT  SONOR 


i-'rv, 


Sonor  drums.  Details,  not  compromises. 


*By  the  way,  every 
drum  shop  doesn't 
Sonor.  We're 
in  the  most 
lified  stores, 
or  write  us 
the  dealer 
nearest  you. 

Sonor 

c/ q  Korg  U.S.A, 
Frost  Street 
Westbury,  N.Y. 

1 1590 

16)  333-9100 


sion — tambourine,  shakers, 
lots  of  cymbal  crashes.  There 
was  even  more  percussion  on 
the  Shriekback  album,  though, 
with  gongs,  congas,  and 
claves. 

"'Sacrament'  on  the  King 
Swamp  album  is  one  of  my 
favorite  tracks,"  Martyn  says. 
"It's  one  of  those  very  big 
ballad-type  songs  where  you 
really  have  to  capture  the  feel. 
Everybody  loves  to  do  big,  fast 
songs,  and  they're  easy  to  do, 
but  it's  kind  of  the  moody, 
slow-moving  songs  with  that 
big  snare  drum  that  are  a 
challenge — getting  that  right 
sound  on  the  snare  drum  and 
just  getting  the  right  feel, 
making  it  really,  really  huge 
and  building  it. 

"'Is  This  Love'  is  a  combina¬ 
tion  of  drum  machine  and  real 
drums,  with  bits  of  cymbals 
and  accents,  working  around 
the  drum  machine.  In  the  last 
couple  of  years  I've  learned 
howto  use  drum  machines 
and  work  around  them. 
'Louisiana  Bride'  has  a  great 
Linn  Drum  feel.  If  you  try  to  do 
it  with  real  drums,  it  doesn't 
quite  capture  it,  so  you  work 
around  it. 

'"Motherlode'  is  one  of 
those  rhythms  that  you  do  the 
same  bass  drum  beat  all  the 
way  through  the  song.  I  started 
it  from  kind  of  a  rimshot  idea, 
then  putting  the  snare  in  and 
building  it.  I  played  to  a  click 
track,  which  I  think  you  have 
to  do  because  it's  such  a 
linear-type  feel.  I  put  a  triangle 
and  a  tambourine  in  and 
overdubs  of  crashes.  But  the 
basic  beat  was  done  in  one 
take.  It's  a  very  difficult  one  to 
do  because  you  really  have  to 
swing  it  and  you've  got  the 
triangle  doing  3's  over  the  4/4 
beat."  Martyn  says  that  King 
Swamp  should  be  completing 
another  album  by  spring  of 
next  year. 

— Robyn  Flans 

Paul  Read 

One  night  Paul  Read  was 
working  in  a  local  bar  band  in 
his  town  of  Ipswich,  England, 
when  someone  from  the 
Outfield's  management  team 
wandered  in.  A  couple  of 
weeks  later,  they  phoned  Paul 
and  asked  him  to  sit  in  the 


drum  seat  that  Alan  Jackman 
had  recently  vacated.  "That's 
alright,  isn't  it!"  Paul  exclaims 
with  a  laugh.  "The  next  thing  I 
know,  I'm  being  flown  around 
to  all  kinds  of  places  and 
doing  all  these  fantastic  gigs." 

Actually,  first  he  went  to 
London  to  rehearse  with  them 
for  a  day,  and  then  he  had  the 
job.  "I  just  listened  to  the 
albums  a  lot  to  prepare,"  he 
recalls.  "I  put  the  headphones 
on,  turned  up  loud,  and 
drummed  along  with  them. 
That's  how  I  learned  how  to 
play  drums  in  the  first  place, 
by  listening  to  other  drum¬ 
mers.  Then  as  we're  playing 
the  songs  live,  new  ideas  are 
constantly  coming  up.  On  the 
older,  more  popular  songs,  I've 
kept  the  majority  of  the  fills  the 
same,  but  I've  had  no  pressure 
on  me  to  play  certain  parts  at 
all.  We  work  it  as  a  new  band, 
really,"  Paul  explains,  adding 
that  the  music  requires  a 
steady  groove  beat,  lots  of 
power,  and  little  flash. 

"We  do  an  extended  version 
of  a  song  called  'I  Don't 
Need  Her,'  and  it  turns  into  a 
jam.  No  night  is  the  same.  I 
don't  think  I  drum  the  same 
way  twice,  anyway.  Every¬ 
thing  I  do  is  spur  of  the 
moment,  and  I  never  really 
know  what  I'm  going  to  do,  to 
be  honest  with  you.  It's  just  a 
jam  improvisation." 

Needless  to  say,  the  past 
year  has  been  a  big  change  for 
Paul.  "It's  really  a  dream  come 
true,"  he  says.  "This  is  all  I've 
ever  had  my  heart  on  doing,  so 
I  was  all  ready  for  it.  Plus  I'm 
having  to  use  technology — 
programming — that  I  haven't 
done  before.  I'll  program  a  few 
percussion  tracks,  stuff  I'd  do  if 
I  had  another  set  of  arms, 
really — tambourine,  triangles, 
and  that  sort  of  thing." 

The  album  on  which  the 
Outfield  is  currently  working — 
his  first  recording  with  the 
band — promises  to  be  a  group 
project,  says  Read.  "There  are 
a  couple  of  songs  that  Tony 
[Lewis]  and  John  [Spinks]  have 
more  or  less  finished,  where 
they  know  roughly  how 
they're  going  to  be.  But  the 
rest  of  the  album  will  be  pretty 
much  made  up  spur  of  the 
moment." 

— Robyn  Flans 


News... 

The  Cleveland  Opera  opened 
its  1 989-90  season  with  the 
world  premiere  of  Floly  Blood 
And  Crescent  Moon,  com¬ 
posed  by  Stewart  Copeland. 
Shown  in  the  photo  are  (left  to 
right)  Copeland,  Cleveland 
Opera  Director  David 
Bamberger,  and  conductor 
Imre  Pallo. 


Milton  Sledge  on  current 
albums  by  Barbara  Mandrell, 
Kathy  Mattea,  Shenandoah, 
Crystal  Gayle,  the  O'Kanes, 
and  Russell  Smith. 

Marc  Cohen  touring  with 
Russell  Smith. 

Clint  de  Ganon  can  be 
heard  on  Warren  Wolfs  new 
record,  as  well  as  playing  live 
with  Wolf  and  doing  some 
European  dates  with  Peter 
Moffitt.  Clint  also  completed  a 
track  for  a  Japanese  group 
called  Bread  &  Butter. 

Matt  Johnson  on  tour  with 
Canadian  group  54-40  in 
support  of  their  new  album, 
Fight  For  Love. 

Terry  Bozzio  on  Jeff  Beck's 
Guitar  Shop,  as  well  as  doing 
live  dates  with  the  group. 

Sol  Gubin  working  with 
Frank  Sinatra. 

Mel  Watts  on  Del  Shannon's 
current  release,  as  well  as 
doing  dates  with  Shannon. 

Mel  is  also  on  an  album  for 
CBS  artist  Zaca  Creek  (and  can 
be  heard  on  the  Traveling 
Wilburys'  "Let's  Dance"). 

Percussionist  Bill  Summers 
working  on  Quincy  Jones's 
newest  effort. 

Craig  Krampf  producing  and 
playing  on  Ashley  Cleveland's 
Curb  debut. 

Eddie  Bayers  working  with 
Eddy  Raven  and  Alabama,  and 


can  be  heard  on  some  of  Buck 
Owens'  new  tracks. 

Harry  Stinson  is  also  on 
Buck  Owens'  newest,  as  well 
as  working  with  J.C.  Crowley, 
Rob  Crosby,  Steve  Wariner,  the 
Forrester  Sisters,  Suzy  Boggus, 
and  Matraca  Berg,  and  begins 
working  on  James  House's 
next  album  next  month.  He  is 
also  the  writer  of  the  Ricky 
Skaggs  single  "Let  It  Be  You." 


Geoff  Dugmore  on  Tony 
Banks's  Bankstatement. 

Michael  Graves  back  in  the 
studio  with  Broken  Homes. 

Matt  Chamberlain  on  New 
Bohemians'  contribution  to  the 
soundtrack  for  Bom  On  The 
4th  OfJuly.  The  band  is  due  to 
go  into  the  studio  next  month. 

James  Stroud  on  The 
Snakes'  debut  Curb  release. 

Rikki  Rockett  enters  the 
studio  this  month  with  Poison, 
who  hope  to  have  an  album 
out  by  next  June. 

Chalo  Quintana  on  the  road 
with  Walking  Wounded  in 
support  of  their  album  Raging 
Winds  Of  Time. 

Frank  Beard  is  on  the  new 
ZZ  Top  album,  as  well  as 
playing  a  part  on  the  Disney 
Channel's  Mother  Goose  Rock 
'n'  Rhyme,  a  90-minute 
musical  movie  produced  by 
Shelley  Duvall.  He  and  his 
two  ZZ  cohorts  play  The  Three 
Men  in  a  Tub  in  an  elaborate 
fantasy. 

Russ  Kunkel  on  tour  with 
Stevie  Nicks. 

James  Bradley,  Jr.  on  the 
road  with  Mary's  Danish, 
supporting  their  album  There 
Goes  The  Wondertruck. 

Charly  Alberti  spent  the  fall 
touring  Latin  America  with 
Soda  Stereo. 

f ® 


- 


What  You  See 


Is  As  Good 


As  What  You  Hear 


Turn  your  inhibitions  loose  on  or  off 
stage  with  the  Mapex  Saturn  Series  — 
professional  equipment  designed  by 
people  who  understand  the  importance  of 
a  premiere  performance.  Mapex  Saturns 
deliver  the  sound  you  need  . , .  when  you 
need  it!  Saturn’s  screaming  snare  will 
blow  the  roof  off  your  high  energy  riffs 
and  our  booming  bass  will  rock  you 
down  to  your  bones  —  all  without 
missing  a  beat! 


Saturn  is  sleek  . . .  sexy.  Seven  layers  of 
polished  maple  and  hardwood  add  some 
pretty  serious  curves  to  this 
“Powersheir  powerhouse!  Saturn  has 
the  good  looks  to  get  you  noticed,  and 
the  great  sound  that  will  catch  the 
ear  of  those  who  recognize  a 
quality  performance. 


Our  new  Pro-Lok  system  guarantees 
stability  —  even  during  the  hottest 
performance.  And  Mapex  drums  carry  a 
“5/2"  limited  warranty  plan  —  five-years 
on  drums:  two  years  on  hardware. 


Check  out  a  set  of  Saturns  at  your  nearby 
Mapex  dealer.  One  look  and  you’ll  be 
rocking  to  the  beat  of  a  different  drum. 


P.O.  Box  748 
Effingham.  IL  62401 
(217)  342-9211 


ASK  A  PRO 


JONATHAN  MOVER 


BILLY  COBHAM 

Q.  You  re  a  drummer  I  really  like  to  listen 
to;  you  seem  to  have  that  special  touch 
when  you  jam  on  your  drums.  In  addition 
to  your  talent,  you  have  a  great  build,  and 
you  seem  to  control  your  body  very  well 
when  you  work  with  the  sticks.  I'm  a  25- 
year-old  bodybuilder,  and  I've  been  play¬ 
ing  drums  for  five  years.  I  want  to  work  on 
my  speed  and  control,  with  both  hands 
and  feet.  Should  I  spend  more  time  in  the 
practice  room  and  less  in  the  weight  room? 
Are  there  some  special  exercises  that  you 
work  on  to  develop  that  special  touch? 

Gerardo  Silva 
Redwood  City  CA 
A.  I  generally  practice  with  parade  sticks, 
about  the  Pro-Mark  767  weight,  and  a  prac¬ 


Q.  I  was  really  impressed  with  your  Sound 
Supplement  in  the  July  issue  of  MD.  One 
thing  I  noticed  in  the  notes  prior  to  the 
transcription  is  that  you  mention  compos¬ 
ing  with  Marillion.  I  am  a  very  big  Maril- 
lion  fan,  and  have  never  seen  your  name 
mentioned  in  connection  with  the  band. 
What  exactly  was  it  you  did  with  them? 
Also,  who  are  the  other  members  that  you 
mention  play  on  the  Supplement  and  demo 
with  you?  Good  luck  with  your  solo  mate¬ 
rial. 

Jim  Siegel 
Sharon  MA 

A.  Thank  you  for  your  letter;  I'm  glad  you 
enjoyed  the  Sound  Supplement.  To  answer 
your  question,  I  worked  with  Marillion  for 
a  short  period  in  the  fall  of  1983.  During 


tice  pad.  I  concentrate  on  posture  and  bal¬ 
ance  while  sitting  at  the  drumset,  since  I 
believe  that  if  a  player  sits  below  or  above 
the  drumset  he  immediately  is  working  at  a 
power-distribution  disadvantage  and  can¬ 
not  possibly  utilize  all  of  his  power  source. 
If  you  work  in  the  gym,  then  you  know  that 
you  cannot  obtain  a  full  workout  without 
first  knowing  how  to  prepare  to  lift  so  that 
the  optimum  effect  can  be  gained  from  the 
exercise  you  are  doing.  Maintaining  good, 
solid,  personal  balance  in  lifting  free  weights 
is  very,  very  important. 

How  you  address  the  drumset  is  also 
very  important  to  your  control  of  the  drums. 
If  you  work  a  lot  with  the  forearm  muscle 
group  to  gain  and  maintain  speed,  then  I 


that  time,  we  did  a  live  German  radio  broad¬ 
cast  (which  was  later  pressed  and  released 
in  Europe),  then  headed  to  Rockfield  Stu¬ 
dios  in  Wales  to  start  writing  the  next  al¬ 
bum.  My  contributions  as  a  composer/ar¬ 
ranger  were  mainly  on  "Punch  &  Judy," 
"Incubus,"  and  "Jigsaw."  These  three  songs, 
as  well  as  "Assasing, "  were  all  written  and 
demoed prior  to  my  leaving  the  band.  You 
will  find  my  name  listed  among  the  credits 
of  the  Fugazi  album. 

Here's  some  background  on  the  other 
two  players  on  the  Supplement:  Michael 
Bean  (bass)  has  recorded  and/or  performed 
with  a  variety  of  players,  including  myself, 
Vinnie  Moore,  Richie  Kotzen,  and  Blues 
Saraceno.  Brian  Rahlly  (guitar)  is  a  Boston- 
area  musician  who  can  be  seen  and  heard 
with  many  of  the  local  acts  there. 


would  suggest  that  you  try  the  smaller,  more 
agile  finger  group.  The  fingers  tend  to  pro¬ 
vide  you  with  more  speed — as  well  as  the 
ability  for  greater  staying  power  when  it 
comes  to  sustaining  a  particularly  fast  and 
complex  pattern. 

I  don't  think  that  you  necessarily  need  to 
spend  more  or  less  time  in  the  weight¬ 
training  room  versus  the  drum-practice 
room.  But  I  do  think  that  you  need  to  study 
how  the  patterns  that  you  probably  already 
control  to  a  certain  degree  can  work  better 
for  you  with  a  much  more  limited  amount 
of  effort  applied  to  them.  This  is  accom¬ 
plished  by  understanding  your  body  and 
how  you  can  make  it  work  more  efficiently 
for  you. 


JOE  FRANCO 


Q.  I  went  to  see  you  many  times  when  you 
played  with  the  Good  Rats  in  and  around 
Long  Island,  New  York,  and  your  style  and 
showmanship  really  inspired  me  to  play 
the  drums.  I  noticed  then  that  you  were 
playing  Premier  drums,  and  I  was  wonder¬ 
ing  if  you  still  do  and  what  your  setup 
looks  like.  Can  you  fill  me  in  please? 

Gerry  Seidl 

Lowell  MA 

A.  Thank  you  for  the  kind  words.  I'm  glad 
to  have  inspired  you.  Yes,  I  still  use  Premier 
drums,  and  have  been  for  12  years  now.  In 
my  current  live  setup,  I  use  two  16x24 
Resonator  bass  drums,  12",  14",  and  15" 
Projector  power  rack  toms,  and  16"  and 


18"  floor  toms.  Sometimes  I'll  use  10",  12", 
and  14"  rack  toms  for  recording.  I  also 
often  record  with  one  of  my  old  Premier 
Soundwave  kits  because  I  love  the  sound 
cf  Soundwave  toms.  For  snares,  my  current 
favorite  is  the  Premier  6  1/2x14  brass  snare. 
The  drum  was  modified  for  me  by  Tom 
Meyers  at  Premier.  He  puts  on  extra-wide 
snares  and  a  heavy-duty  top  rim  (the  kind 
they  use  on  their  parade  drums).  He  also 
silicones  two  thin  rubber  fan  belts  around 
the  inner  shell,  top  and  bottom,  to  take  out 
just  enough  of  the  ring.  For  recording,  I'll 
also  bring  along  a  6  1/2"  and  an  8"  wood 
snare,  as  well  as  my  Premier  piccolo  snare. 


12 


MODERN  DRUMMER 


Most  drummers  strive  for  a  fat,  rich,  full  and 
powerful  tom  sound.  That’s  why  so  many  heavy 
hitters  use  RIMS?5 

With  RIMS  drum  mounts  from  PureCussion'," 
you’ll  release  all  of  the  potential  volume,  power 
and  depth  of  tone  that  your  toms  are  capable 
of  producing. 

GET  BACK  TO  THE 
FUNDAMENTAL. 

Most  importantly,  with  RIMS,  the  fundamental 
tone  —  true  pitch  —  from  your  toms  cuts 
through.  RIMS  can  help  you  eliminate  unwanted 
high-pitched  overtones  and  ring  without  using 
tape,  towels  or  tissue. 

Plus,  your  toms  tuning  capability  and  range 
will  increase  —  especially  in  the  lower  register. 
It’s  the  edge  you  seek  for  live  or  studio  playing. 


Hit  one  of  your  mounted  toms.  You’ll  hear  a 
loss  of  sound  quality  as  the  vibrations  from  the 
drumhead  deaden.  This  is  due  to  the  grounding 
effect  that  mounting  hardware  has  on  your 
drum  shell. 

Now  remove  the  tom, 
support  it  with  your 
fingertips  under  the 
hoop,  and  strike  it 
again.  Notice  the  imme¬ 
diate  improvement  in 
the  sound  quality  when 
you  eliminate  grounded 
hardware.  RIMS  work 
like  your  fingertips. 

RIMS  also  isolate 
vibrations  from  other  drums  for  miking  and 
triggering  applications. 


GETFATINMINUTES-WITHOUT 
BREAKING  THE  BANK. 


SUSPEND  YOUR  JUDGEMENT 
UNTIL  YOU’VE  SUSPENDED 
YOUR  TOMS. 

'lake  a  look  at  the  oscilloscope  picture.  Adding 
RIMS  allows  the  shell  to  vibrate  freely.  The 
fundamental  pitches’  attack  has  greater 
amplitude,  the  tone  is  more  complex,  and  the 
sustain  or  duration  of  audible  sound  is  signifi¬ 
cantly  extended. 


mounts  on  your  toms  is  a  iew 
and  simple  tools.  Your  old 
sound  new-,  and  your  new 
up.  RIMS  adapt  to 
any  brand  of  drums. 

For  more  informs 


set  will 
set  will  open 


i 

% 


tion  and  the  music 
-  m  store  nearest  vou, 

\  i  call  (800)  328-0263.  We’ll  help 
■  you  unlock  the  fat  sound  of  your 
toms  with  RIMS. 


IT’S  QUESTIONABLE 


Q.  Please  give  me  an  address  for  the  Sleishman  Drum  Company  in 
Australia.  I  would  like  to  get  specific  information  on  their  double 
pedal  pictured  in  your  Summer  NAMM  '89  feature  on  page  36  of 
the  October  1989  issue  of  Modem  Drummer.  Sleishman's  pedal  is 
the  ideal  product  that  will  give  me  the  body  positioning  I  have 
been  seeking  on  my  kit. 

S.C. 

Havelock  NC 

A.  You  can  contact  the  Sleishman  Drum  Company  at  Tl  Prices 
Circuit,  Woronora,  New  South  Wales  2232,  Australia.  You  should 
direct  your  correspondence  to  Don  Sleishman,  who  invented  the 
pedal;  he'll  be  pleased  to  learn  of  your  interest. 


Q.  I  have  two  questions,  both  relating  to  the  J.C.  Deagan  com¬ 
pany.  First,  what  is  their  current  status,  and  second,  where  can  I 
get  spare  parts  (pickups,  support  pieces,  grommets,  etc.)  for  a 
Deagan  Model  575  Electravibe?  Mine  is  in  desperate  need  of 
repair. 

R.L. 

Albany  NY 

A.  The  J.C.  Deagan  company  was  purchased  by  Yamaha  seven 
years  ago.  Yamaha  has  continued  to  manufacture  only  chimes  and 
orchestra  bells,  and  can  only  supply  parts  for  those  instruments. 
This  manufacturing  takes  place  at  Yamaha's  Grand  Rapids,  Michi¬ 
gan  facility. 

Deagan  instruments  were  originally  manufactured  at  1 770  West 
Bertrau,  Chicago,  Illinois  60613.  That  is  now  the  address  for 
Sentry  Mallet  Works,  which  is  owned  and  operated  by  Mr.  Gilberto 
Serna.  Yamaha  sold  the  parts  and  tooling  that  they  did  not  want 
from  the  Deagan  lines  to  Mr.  Serna.  You  can  contact  him  for 
further  information  regarding  parts  for  your  Electravibe.  His  num¬ 
ber  is  (312)  248-7733. 


Q.  I  was  wondering  why  no  major  drum  company — or  any  drum 
company,  for  that  matter — is  producing  drums  with  pure  fiberglass 
shells.  I  know  that  Pearl  and  Yamaha  used  to  make  them  in  the  late 
'60s  but  discontinued  production  in  the  early  70s.  Were  the 
drums  expensive  to  make,  were  there  mechanical  problems  in¬ 
volved  with  the  drums,  or  did  the  market  go  bad  because  of 
newer,  better-sounding  wood  drums?  I  was  also  curious  whether 
fiberglass  shells  in  good  condition  will  be  collectors  items  in  the 
near  future.  Finally,  I've  heard  of  drummers  Vibrafibing  their  wooden 
drums  with  fiberglass.  Is  this  an  alternative  to  having  all-fiberglass 
shells? 

B.C. 

Denver  CO 

A.  While  it  is  true  that  some  of  the  companies  that  made  fiberglass 
drums  in  the  '60s  have  either  discontinued  those  drums  (such  as 
Pearl)  or  have  gone  out  of  business  completely  (such  as  North  and 
Fibes),  it  is  certainly  not  true  that  no  major  drum  companies  are 
producing  all-fiberglass  drums  today.  Tempus  Instruments  and 
Impact  Industries  both  offer  excellent  fiberglass  drums,  and  raw 
fiberglass  shells  are  available  from  A. F.  Blaemire  for  those  who  like 
to  custom-build  their  own  drums. 

The  demise  of  the  earlier  fiberglass  drums  was  due  mainly  to 
changing  trends  in  drum  sounds.  Fiberglass  drums  produce  bright 
drum  sounds  with  lots  of  sharp  attack.  They  are  also  quite  loud. 
During  the  '70s,  we  saw  the  heyday  of  the  dull,  flat,  "studio" 
sound  in  drums,  which  called  for  mellower-sounding  drums  made 
of  wood.  Fiberglass  drums  had  always  been  a  small  portion  of  the 
overall  drum  market,  and  when  interest  in  them  sagged  even  more 
due  to  this  trend,  the  drum  manufacturers  simply  found  that  it  was 
no  longer  profitable  to  offer  them.  Those  companies  that  also  sold 
wood  drums  continued  to  do  so;  most  of  those  that  sold  only 
fiberglass  drums  left  the  market  entirely.  While  it  is  not  likely  that 
any  fiberglass  drums  will  be  collectors  items  simply  because  they 


are  fiberglass,  it  is  not  unusual  for  collectors  to  look  for  drums 
made  by  some  of  those  companies  that  went  out  of  business,  such 
as  North,  Fibes,  orZickos. 

Finally,  Vibrafibing  is  a  process  by  which  a  fiberglass  coating  is 
applied  to  the  interior  of  wood  shells.  It  first  came  to  prominence 
when  Neil  Peart  described  how  he  had  had  it  done  to  his  drums 
by  the  Percussion  Center,  of  Fort  Wayne,  Indiana.  It  is  not  really  an 
alternative  to  all-fiberglass  shells;  it  is  a  means  of  gaining  some  of 
the  properties  of  fiberglass  shells  (increased  projection  and  reflec¬ 
tiveness)  while  retaining  some  of  the  warmth  and  depth  of  wood. 


Q.  Do  you  know  of  any  companies  who  specialize  in  customizing 
bass  drum  heads,  in  terms  of  putting  pictures  on  them? 

B.P. 

Maiden  MA 

A.  We  know  of  no  company  whose  business  it  is  to  illustrate  bass 
drum  heads.  However,  any  good  commercial  art  firm  or  sign 
painting  company  could  probably  do  such  a  job  for  you.  Obvi¬ 
ously,  you'll  need  to  give  them  a  sketch  of  the  design  and/or 
lettering  you  want,  or  work  with  their  artists  to  create  such  a 
design.  It  will  also  be  important  for  you  to  take  the  drumhead  in  to 
them  when  you  first  discuss  such  a  project,  since  most  drumheads 
are  made  of  Mylar,  which  is  difficult  for  some  paints  and  inks  to 
adhere  to.  A  white-coated  head  will  generally  serve  as  a  better 
"canvas"  for  artwork  than  any  smooth  head,  but  a  knowledgeable 
artist  will  be  able  to  determine  what  sort  of  medium  will  work  best 
on  whatever  head  you  wish  to  use. 

The  Remo  company  can  do  some  custom  artwork  as  a  special- 
order  item  on  drumheads  they  manufacture.  You  should  contact 
the  company  directly  at  12804  Raymer  Street,  North  Hollywood, 
California  91605  for  further  information. 


Q.  In  the  February  1989  issue  of  MD,  there  is  a  Product  Close-Up 
on  Paiste  2000  and  3000  cymbals.  In  the  section  about  the  ride 
cymbals  it  mentioned  that  the  22"  3000  Heavy  Ride  had  a  good 
bell,  but  that  its  sound  was  choked  with  a  wood-tip  stick  but 
improved  with  a  nylon-tip  stick.  Does  that  mean  I  can  use  a  58  or 
28  nylon-tip  stick,  or  does  it  have  to  be  a  lighter  stick  to  bring  out 
the  precise  sound  of  the  cymbal? 

R.M. 

North  Arlington  NJ 

A.  There  are  a  lot  of  factors  involved  in  answering  your  question. 
Generally  speaking,  any  nylon-tip  stick  will  produce  a  sharper, 
brighter  "ping"  sound  from  a  cymbal  than  will  a  comparable 
wood-tip  stick.  Also  generally  speaking,  a  stick  with  a  gradual 
taper  and  a  thinner  neck  will  produce  a  more  delicate,  higher- 
pitched  sound  than  will  a  stick  with  a  thicker  neck  and  more 
weight  up  front.  (Such  a  stick  will  bring  out  more  of  the  full  range 
of  a  cymbal's  pitches.)  And  finally,  the  third  generalization  to  keep 
in  mind  is  a  relationship  between  stick  and  cymbal:  The  smaller 
the  stick  size  in  relation  to  the  cymbal  weight  and  thickness,  the 
lighter  and  more  delicate  the  sound  produced  by  that  stick  on  that 
cymbal.  This  means  that  a  5 A  stick  on  a  20"  medium  ride  cymbal 
will  produce  a  pretty  well-rounded  sound,  while  on  a  22"  3000 
Heavy  Ride  it  will  likely  "bounce  off"  a  great  deal  and  thus 
produce  a  higher,  lighter  sound.  Conversely,  a  2B  stick  will  pound 
the  daylights  out  of  the  20"  medium  ride,  thus  producing  a  deeper, 
washier  sound  (since  it's  having  more  of  an  effect  on  the  total 
cymbal)  while  it  will  "bounce  off"  the  3000  a  bit  more,  and  thus 
produce  a  more  distinct  sound.  The  key  to  getting  the  sound  you 
want  is  finding  the  right  stick  to  use  for  the  given  situation.  It's 
possible  to  get  very  different  sounds  out  of  the  same  cymbal 
simply  by  switching  sticks.  This  can  save  you  bundles  on  your 
cymbal  setup. 


14 


MODERN  DRUMMER 


any  number  of  drum  heads  on  the  market.  And 
for  those  who  already  own  a  PureCussion  Drum 
Set,  we  have  Retro-Fit  NR  accessories  which 
allow  you  to  convert  your  kit  and  get  the  true 
benefit  of  an  NE  Series  set. 


The  new  generation  of  PureCussion™  Drums  is 
built  for  those  who  want  the 
maximum  in  sound  quality  and 
design.  PureCussion 

Drums  feature  RIMS* 

R  1  )rum  Mi  ninm  urlim  if  jgy 

which  allows  the  head  to 
ring  pure  and  free  — 

Wj  giving  you  the  fat,  meaty 

sound  you  desire. 
wr  PureCussion  1 ) run  is  are 

ideal  for  those  who  have  a 
heavy  rehearsal  or  gigging 
schedule  and  need  a  kit  that’s  easy  to  carry  and 
simple  to  set-up.  In  fact,  a  PureCussion  Drum 
set  fits  easily  into  one  case. 


NEWTRI6GERABILITY 


You  can  convert  your  f / 

PureCussion  Drum  kit  m 

into  a  “trigger  set”  with  M. 

triggers  specifically  de- 

signed  for  PureCussion  diffaSfc  h 

by  Barcus  Berry.  And 

most  importantly,  you’ll  zSr 

play  with  the  right  feel  jr 

on  real  heads  rather  1 

than  pads. 

Call  us  at  (800)  328-0203  for  more  informa- 


INTRODUCING  PURECUSSION 
DRUMS  NE  SERIES. 


tion  and  the  music  store  nearest  you.  We’ll  be 
glad  to  help  you  discover  the  fatter  than  ever 
generation  of  PureCussion  Drums. 


The  new  NE  Series  set  gives  you  the  flexibility 
to  create  your  signature  sound  by  choosing  from 


WITH  RIMS® DRUM 


DRUMS 

^TSTKHNOLOSV 


vriSsJ' 


m—  in 

W  JwmI  * 

)4rjK‘*-r" 

ffiu  1 bBl  \X 

It's  intermission  at  a  1988  Frank  Zappa  concert.  It's  a  rather  long 
intermission,  too,  because  Zappa  has  tables  set  up  in  the  lobby 
where  people  can  register  to  vote,  so  I  take  advantage  of  the  time 
to  go  backstage  and  visit  Ed  Mann.  Things  are  rather  hectic  in 
the  band's  dressing  room,  where  a  60  Minutes  film  crew  is 
gathering  footage  of  the  band  members  and  assorted  wives  and 
girlfriends,  all  of  whom  are  doing  their  best  to  perform  for  the 
cameras  in  a  fashion  suitable  to  fulfill  most  people's  ideas  of  how 
a  touring  rock  'n'  roll  band  acts  on  the  road.  Ed  and  I  retire  to  the 
hallway  outside,  where  we  engage  in  some  very  non-rock  'n'  roll 
conversation  about  the  rewards  and  responsibilities  of  parent¬ 
hood.  Suddenly,  Ed  looks  at  his  watch  and  excuses  himself.  "I 
have  to  change  disks  before  the  next  half,"  he  explains,  heading 
for  the  stage. 

Change  disks?  Mann  certainly  didn't  have  to  do  anything  like 
that  the  first  time  I  saw  him  live  with  Zappa  in  '81.  And  yet,  at 
the  time,  his  percussion  setup  was  very  state-of-the-art  by  virtue 
of  the  fact  that  his  mallet-keyboard  instruments  were  fitted  with 
pickups  and  he  had  a  couple  of  Syndrums.  Now,  however,  with 
the  advent  of  MIDI,  the  setup  has  changed  significantly  to  in¬ 
clude  a  KAT,  two  Simmons  Silicon  Mallets,  a  sampler,  and  vari¬ 
ous  other  devices  designed  to  give  him  access  to  the  widest 
possible  variety  of  sounds  within  the  smallest  amount  of  space. 
Not  that  the  setup  is  any  smaller,  though,  or  that  it  doesn't  in¬ 
clude  any  acoustic  instruments.  Although  the  electronics  have 
replaced  instruments  such  as  chimes  and  timpani,  there  is  still  an 
acoustic  vibraphone,  a  rack  of  gongs,  and  a  table  full  of  shakers, 
ratchets,  tambourines,  duck  calls — you  name  it. 

And  during  the  show,  Ed  is  running  around  within  his  setup 
just  as  much  as  he  ever  did,  but  he's  playing  even  more  than  he 
used  to.  He  doesn't  have  to  drop  his  mallets  to  grab  a  rawhide 
hammer  when  he  wants  to  play  chimes  now;  he  plays  them  from 
the  Silicon  Mallet.  But  while  he's  doing  that  with  one  hand,  he 
plays  vibe  chords  with  the  other,  or  shakes  a  tambourine,  or 
smacks  a  suspended  crash  cymbal.  I  don't  know  if  Zappa  is  the 
kind  of  guy  who  pays  extra  for  "doubling,"  but  with  Ed  Mann, 
he's  getting  about  three  players'  worth  of  percussion  in  one 
person. 

"Technology  has  changed  everything,"  Mann  admits.  "Look  at 
timpani,  for  example.  I  had  two  acoustic  timpani  on  the  first 
Zappa  tour  I  did  in  1977,  but  I  could  only  use  them  to  play 
isolated  parts  of  two  or  three  notes,  or  to  roll  on  the  final  holding 
chord  of  a  tune.  Plus,  they  took  up  a  lot  of  room,  and  we  could 
never  get  them  miked  properly.  But  now,  with  sampling,  I  can 
have  timpani  sounds  spread  out  over  a  mallet  keyboard,  which 
means  I  never  have  to  worry  about  tuning,  and  I  can  play  fast, 
scalular  runs  that  you  could  never  do  on  a  regular  set  of  timpani. 
Plus,  there  are  no  miking  problems.  Everything  just  comes  di¬ 
rectly  out  of  the  speakers.  To  be  able  to  use  timpani  this  way  is 
amazing. 

"It's  the  same  with  chimes,"  Ed  continues.  "We  carried  chimes 
on  every  tour,  but  the  pickups  never  really  worked  very  well, 
and  with  microphones  you  don't  get  the  real  body  of  the  sound. 
You  get  the  attack,  but  then  it  dies  away  and  gets  lost  in  every¬ 
thing  else  that's  happening  on  the  stage.  I  sampled  the  chimes 
and  all  the  other  percussion  instruments  myself  in  a  nice-sound¬ 
ing  room  using  a  Beyer  M88  microphone  into  a  Sony  F-7  digital 
encoder.  So  now,  whenever  you  hear  the  chimes,  you  hear  the 
recording  of  them  in  that  room,  into  the  M88,  etc.  It  makes  for  a 
very  controlled  sound." 

When  using  sampled  sounds  over  a  large  range,  it  is  often 
necessary  to  make  multiple  samples  of  the  original  instrument; 
otherwise,  notes  that  are  a  lot  lower  than  the  original  note  can 
sound  overly  stretched  out,  and  notes  that  are  higher  can  start 
sounding  like  "chipmunk"  music.  But  Mann  found  that  he  could 
go  pretty  far  with  a  single  chime  note.  "I  stretched  one  chime 
sample  over  a  major  tenth,"  he  explains.  "It  sounded  completely 
natural.  I  sampled  the  D  above  middle  C,  so  it  went  down  a 
whole  step  and  up  a  major  ninth.  I  originally  sampled  all  of  the 


"It's 

always 
a  kick 
when 
you  do 
some¬ 
thing 
for  the 
first  time: 
first  gig, 
first  time 
on  the 
road,  first 
time  with 
a  major 
band.... 
So  for 
me, 

having 
my  first 
solo 

album  is 
that  kind 
of  experi¬ 
ence." 


notes  on  the  instrument;  I  chose  the  D  be¬ 
cause  it  had  the  best  attack,  and  it  seemed 
to  resonate  the  best  in  that  room  and  with 
that  mic'.  It  was  simply  the  best  overall 
sample,  and  it  worked  fine  for  the  program 
where  I  needed  a  tenth.  I  did  make  an 
extended  program  that  was  three  octaves, 
and  for  that  I  used  two  chime  samples:  the 
lowest  note  on  the  instrument  and  the  high¬ 
est. 

"With  some  instruments  you  can  only 
use  one  or  two  samples  and  it  sounds  fine,"' 
Ed  says.  "But  with  others  you  can't.  With 
marimba,  it  starts  to  sound  Squirrelly  within 
about  a  fifth  or  sixth,  so  you  have  to 
resample.  Drums  often  need  multiple 
samples,  too.  But  you  never  really  know 
until  you  do  it  and  listen  back  to  hear  the 
final  result.  Your  ear  will  tell  you  if  it  needs 
to  be  multi-sampled  or  if  one  is  enough. 

"Another  interesting  thing  about  the 
chimes,"  Mann  adds,  "is  that  the  samples  I 
used  were  not  made  by  using  a  regular 
rawhide  chime  mallet,  but  with  a  piece  of 
wood.  For  some  reason,  by  the  time  the 
sound  came  out  of  the  sampler  and  was 
reproduced  the  way  we  reproduced  it,  that 
sounded  more  natural  than  the  samples  we 
made  with  the  real  chime  mallet.  The  one 
with  the  rawhide  mallet  was  too  harsh;  I 
think  it  was  too  much  for  the  microphone 
or  the  room.  It  just  didn't  sound  the  same 
when  it  came  back  out  of  the  sampler  as  it 
did  to  my  ear  when  I  hit  it  in  the  room. 
When  I  struck  it  with  a  piece  of  wood,  you 
could  hear  a  lot  more  of  the  fundamental, 
and  it  sounded  more  like  a  real  chime.  I've 
used  that  sample  a  lot  with  Frank  and  on 
other  recording  projects,  and  people  al¬ 
ways  marvel  at  that  sound.  It  was  just  a 
fluke.  When  you're  making  samples,  occa¬ 
sionally  you  get  those  great  ones,  and  some¬ 
times  you  get  one  that  just  doesn't  come 
out  as  well  as  you  thought  it  would.  There 
are  so  many  factors  involved  that  it's  hard 
to  know  why  that  happens." 

Besides  the  advantages  of  using  samples 
for  instruments  such  as  chimes  and  tim¬ 
pani,  technology  also  allowed  Mann  to  have 
sounds  that  were  previously  unavailable  or 
impractical.  "Before,"  Ed  says,  "I  could 
never  have  used  something  like  Tibetan 
prayer  bowls  and  gotten  them  to  project 
over  an  ensemble.  But  with  sampling,  all 
of  a  sudden  they're  like  big,  loud  bells. 
And  one  sound  was  a  bunch  of  garbage 
cans.  There  was  no  way  we  could  have 
had  a  rack  full  of  garbage  cans  on  stage. 
We  didn't  have  room,  and  miking  would 
have  been  a  big  problem.  Or  tabla — there 
was  no  way  I  could  have  thrown  the  mal¬ 
lets  down,  run  over,  picked  up  the  tabla  for 
a  quick  lick,  thrown  them  down,  and  run 
back  to  play  something  else.  But  I  was  able 
to  do  all  of  these  things  from  one  pair  of 
mallets.  I  had  programs  where  a  small  por¬ 
tion  of  the  keyboard  was  allotted  to  tabla, 
another  part  was  chimes,  another  part  was 
woodblocks  and  batterie-type  percussion, 


MODERN  DRUMMER 


19 


not  lose  your  point  of  view.  Know  the  rea¬ 
son  you  play  percussion  to  begin  with,  and 
what  you  can  bring  to  that  group  of  sounds 
from  your  experience.  It's  not  just  the  sounds 
of  percussion,  it's  also  knowing  how  those 
sounds  fit  orchestrationally.  Ultimately,  you 
come  up  with  something  different  than  the 
average  keyboard  player  would,  the  same 
way  that  a  keyboard  player  would  come 
up  with  better  keyboard  parts,  because  he's 
trained  to  think  a  certain  way.  So  it's  good 
to  take  advantage  of  the  technology,  but 
it's  important  not  to  lose  yourself  behind 
sounds  that  have  become  popular.  If  per¬ 
cussionists  lost  their  identities  trying  to 
emulate  another  instrumental  group,  that 
would  be  an  unfortunate  side  effect  of  the 
economic  factors  that  affect  musicians. 

"I  almost  got  caught  up  in  that  myself  at 
one  point,"  Ed  admits.  "There  was  a  period 
of  time  where  I  only  wanted  to  play  elec¬ 
tronics.  But  I  reached  a  period  of  saturation 
with  it,  and  now  one  of  my  favorite  things 
to  do  is  play  acoustic  marimba.  After 
working  with  electronics  a  lot,  you  learn 
the  freedom  they  give  you,  but  you 
also  learn  the  limitations  they  have. 
They  don't  have  the  same  dynamic 
range,  they  don't  have  the  same 
timbral  qualities,  and  they  are 
not  nearly  as  expressive.  You 
might  be  able  to  boost  the 
overall  volume  of  an  elec¬ 
tronic  mallet  instrument 
to  the  point  where  it's 
louder  than  an 
acoustic  marimba, 
but  relatively 
speaking,  the 
acoustic  in¬ 
strument 
hasawider 
dynamic 
range.  I  don't 
think  you  could 
ever  graph  it  out  and 
say,  'Well,  here  it  is.  These 
are  the  limits.'  Within  the  realm 
^  *  of  MIDI  instruments,  there  are  gen¬ 
erally  128  programmable  steps  that  can 
be  assigned  to  a  given  parameter  such  as 
velocity  response.  While  that  might  sound 
like  a  lot,  it's  really  not  when  compared  to 
the  dynamic  range  of  most  acoustic  instru¬ 
ments — especially  percussion  instruments." 

That's  one  of  the  reasons  that  a  lot  of 
percussionists  refuse  to  get  involved  with 
electronic  technology  at  all.  And  yet,  con¬ 
sidering  all  of  the  people  who  have  tried  to 
find  practical  ways  to  attach  pickups  to 
vibes  and  marimbas  over  the  years  so  that 
they  could  participate  in  contemporary  rock 
and  jazz  settings,  it  is  surprising  that  instru¬ 
ments  such  as  the  KAT  mallet  controller 
and  the  Simmons  Silicon  Mallet  have  only 
enjoyed  modest  sales  thus  far.  "Don't  ask 
me  why,"  Ed  says,  shaking  his  head.  "I'm 
baffled  by  it.  You  would  think  that  players 
would  be  eager  to  be  able  to  address  all 
the  new  sounds  that  are  at  their  finger¬ 
tips — or  mallet-tips,  rather.  Of  course,  when 
these  instruments  were  first  introduced,  they 


and  I  could  just  stand  there  and  get  to  all  of  it.  Normally,  it  would 
have  taken  a  couple  of  people  to  do  that  much. 

"The'bottom  line  of  all  this  technology,"  Ed  concludes,  "is  that 
my  role  as  a  percussionist  changed.  Before,  I  only  had  four  melodic 
timbres:  vibes,  marimba,  xylophone,  and  orchestra  bells.  Now,  I 
have  all  kinds  of  samples  of  my  own,  plus  I  was  MIDIed  into 
Frank's  Synclavier,  and  he  has  a  whole  world  of  samples.  So  my 
role  changed  in  terms  of  orchestration.  I  wasn't  just  doing  things 
that  a  traditional  percussionist  did;  all  of  a  sudden  it  was  the 
percussionist's  job  to  play  a  harp  lick.  And  then  there  were  these 
vocal  samples — anything  from  [guitarist/vocalist]  Ike  Willis  scream¬ 
ing  like  Sam  Kinison  to  the  Wicked  Witch  saying  '...and  your  little 
dog,  too.'  These  sounds  would  just  come  out  of  nowhere  during 
the  show.  As  the  percussionist,  I  wound  up  triggering  all 
these  things,  even  though  a  lot  of  people  on  stage  had 
MIDI.  The  keyboard  players  could  have  triggered 
the  vocal  samples;  in  fact,  at  one  point  I  tried 
to  get  them  to  do  it  because  I  was  run 
ning  out  of  memory  on  my  sampler. 

But  they  looked  at  me  like  I  was 
crazy.  'We  can't  do  that. 

We're  keyboard  play¬ 
ers.  You're  the  per¬ 
cussionist.  You  do 
it.' 

"And  actually  they 
were  right,"  Ed  con¬ 
cedes.  "Even  though 
MIDI  is  available  to  eve¬ 
rybody,  it's  right  for  the  per¬ 
cussionist  to  play  the  tabla 
part  because  he  knows  how  it 
should  go.  And  it's  also  right  for 
the  percussionist  to  trigger  the 
weird  sound  effects.  When  Wagner 
needed  someone  to  hit  an  anvil,  he 
didn't  give  it  to  the  clarinet  player;  the 
percussionist  did  it.  So  triggering  vocal 
samples  kind  of  fell  in  line  with  the  ever- 
expanding  role  that  percussionists  are  here 
to  fill." 

Discussing  the  percussionist's  role  can  be  a 
sensitive  subject — especially  among  percussion¬ 
ists  themselves.  Many  musicians  see  percussion¬ 
ists  as  "auxiliary"  players  who,  at  best,  add  a  little 
color,  and  at  worst,  make  everything  sound  like  Spike 
Jones.  As  a  result,  many  percussionists  become  overly 
defensive  about  their  function.  And  in  this  age  of  MIDI,  it 
has  led  some  mallet  players  to  completely  abandon  tradi¬ 
tional  percussive  timbres  and  focus  on  synthesizer  sounds 
that  make  their  mallet  instruments  sound  like  keyboards. 

Ed  is  well  aware  of  this  problem.  "At  times,"  he  says,  "I've  felt 
that  perception  in  other  people's  minds.  It's  a  misperception,  but 
if  that's  all  they  think  a  percussionist  is  there  to  do,  then  they  don't 
bother  to  include  you  in  their  music  because  they  think,  'Well, 
that's  cute,  but  I  don't  need  it.'  We  saw  it  happen  in  the  late  '70s 
and  early  '80s,  when  money  was  tight  and  bands  were  being 
trimmed  down.  The  first  guy  to  go  was  the  percussionist,  because 
that  was  always  the  thing  people  thought  they  could  get  along 
without. 

"If  playing  percussion  is  what  you  depend  on  for  your  liveli¬ 
hood,  you  start  to  get  nervous  about  it,"  Ed  says.  "So  when  some¬ 
thing  like  MIDI  comes  along  and  you  have  the  opportunity  to 
address  the  same  sounds  as  the  guys  who  are  working  a  lot — the 
keyboard  players — then  it's  natural  to  want  to  be  included  in  that 
group.  'See,  I  can  make  those  sounds,  too.'  But  if  you  go  into  it 
head  over  heels  and  take  that  on  as  your  new  identity,  you  leave 
everything  behind  that  is  special  about  being  a  percussionist.  You 
end  up  becoming  part  of  a  generic  group  of  musicians  who  all  use 
the  same  sounds,  and  there's  nothing  very  special  about  that. 

"So  it's  important  to  have  some  perspective  on  where  you're 
coming  from,  and  even  though  you're  using  this  new  technology, 


20 


MODERN  DRUMMER 


were  prohibitive  financially.  Since  then  they 
have  come  down  in  price,  so  now  it's  proba¬ 
bly  easier  for  people  to  afford.  But  I  have 
talked  with  people  who  are  very  reluctant 
to  get  involved  with  it.  I  guess  the  only 
thing  you  can  say  is  that  they  are  purists 
who  are  not  willing  to  dilute  the  art  form  in 
any  way.  And  that's  their  right.  There  cer¬ 
tainly  is  nothing  that  is  going  to  replace  the 
acoustic  vibraphone.  Nothing  is  going  to 
replace  a  marimba.  And  there's  nothing 
that's  going  to  replace  a  sampler.  They  are 
just  different  instruments.  One  doesn't  X- 
out  the  other.  They  both  should  work  to¬ 
gether,  and  that's  how  you  achieve  the  most 
dramatic  range  of  sound  available.  It's  just 
part  of  the  total  picture. 

"Some  people  may  be  intimidated  by 
the  technological  aspect  of  it,"  Ed  consid¬ 
ers.  "They  might  be  afraid  that  they  will 
have  to  spend  most  of  their  time  twisting 
knobs  and  crunching  numbers,  and  not 
actually  playing  the  instrument.  That  can 
be  true.  I've  gone  through  periods  where 
I've  added  up  my  time  at  the  end  of  the 
week,  and  80%  of  it  was  programming  and 
only  20%  was  playing.  As  a  result,  my 
playing  would  take  a  temporary  nosedive — 
or  at  least  I  didn't  move  ahead.  And  that's 
not  good;  if  you're  a  player  you  don't  want 
to  sacrifice  that  and  become  dependent  on 
sequencers  and  that  kind  of  thing.  But  I 
haven't  found  it  to  be  a  permanent  limita¬ 
tion  because  ultimately  it  opens  my  ears  to 
new  things.  By  being  able  to  address  differ¬ 
ent  timbres  I  wind  up  playing  differently, 
and  I  see  that  as  part  of  the  growth  cycle. 

"But  that's  just  me,"  Ed  says.  "Other 
people  may  feel  differently  about  it,  and 
they  have  every  right  to  do  what  they  want. 
I  would  hope  that  enough  players  latch  on 
so  that  the  manufacturers  are  motivated  to 
keep  making  these  instruments,  because  if 
sales  aren't  good  enough,  then  they  won't. 
Many  of  the  major  electronics  manufactur¬ 
ers  are  having  a  hard  time  these  days.  So 
we  can  be  thankful  for  guys  like  Bill  Ka- 
toski,  who  has  this  small,  family-run  busi¬ 
ness  making  KATs,  and  he's  completely 
dedicated  to  the  art  of  percussion  control¬ 
lers.  Without  guys  like  that,  we'd  really  be 
in  the  dark.  Hopefully  this  thing  will  even¬ 
tually  catch  on,  and  someday  you'll  be 
able  to  go  out  and  buy  a  mallet  controller 
as  easily  as  you  can  buy  a  keyboard  instru¬ 
ment. 

"You  know,"  Ed  muses,  "a  lot  of  percus¬ 
sionists  are  probably  shocked  that  technol¬ 
ogy  ever  arrived  at  their  door.  I  mean,  look 
at  the  vibraphone.  Why  doesn't  anyone 
make  a  vibe  that  goes  below  F?  If  they 
would  at  least  go  down  one  note  to  E  then 
you  could  play  with  guitarists  and  have 
that  note  in  common.  But  they  only  make 
vibes  that  go  from  F  to  F  because  that  was 
the  original  design  and  it  will  never  change. 
So  ten  years  ago,  when  keyboard  players 
were  suddenly  getting  all  of  these  new 
sounds,  percussionists  probably  thought, 
'We'll  never  have  all  of  this  electronic  stuff 
because  manufacturers  have  never  paid  any 
attention  to  us  anyway,  so  we'll  concen¬ 


trate  on  all  of  the  acoustic  instruments.'  Now,  when  a  couple  of 
manufacturers  do  apply  the  technology  to  percussion,  it  takes  a 
couple  of  years  for  people  to  get  turned  around  and  start  thinking, 
'Oh,  the  stuff  is  here  for  us.  We  can  use  it."' 

Ed  Mann  has  certainly  been  one  to  use  it,  to  the  point  of  finding 
ways  to  adapt  equipment  to  his  needs  in  ways  the  manufacturers 
never  thought  of.  For  example,  while  preparing  for  the  Zappa  tour, 
he  came  across  a  device  called  The  Mapper,  made  by  Axxess 
Unlimited  and  marketed  by  Intelligent  Music.  Originally,  the  de¬ 
vice  was  intended  to  do  the  kind  of  thing  described  above:  allow 
Ed  to  divide  his  mallet  keyboard  into  different  areas,  and  have 
different  types  of  instruments  grouped  on  one  keyboard.  "The 
Mapper  can  do  a  lot  of  different  things,"  Ed  says.  "In  fact,  I've  heard 
it  referred  to  as  a  Swiss  army  knife  for  MIDI.  Besides  dividing  the 
keyboard  into  different  sections,  another  way  I  used  it  was  to  build 


up  chord  voicings  on  individual  notes.  That  way,  I  could  be  play¬ 
ing  a  slow  vibraphone  melody  with  one  hand,  and  with  the  other 
hand  I  could  play  complex  chords  on  the  Silicon  Mallet  by  just 
hitting  one  note.  And  the  chords  could  be  made  up  of  synthesizer 
sounds  combined  with  a  single  chime  note  from  the  sampler. 

"But  what  is  really  novel  is  the  switching  system  I  worked  out. 
After  I  had  all  of  the  MIDI  program  information  organized,  I  still 
had  to  come  up  with  a  way  to  get  from  one  group  of  sounds  to 
another,  or  into  the  Synclavier,  without  having  to  drop  the  mallets 
and  press  a  program  number.  So,  using  The  Mapper,  we  came  up 
with  a  system  whereby  I  could  step  on  a  footpedal,  and  that  would 
cutoff  all  sound  and  put  the  keyboard  into  switch  mode.  Middle  C 
became  the  number  10,  D  became  20,  and  so  on.  As  soon  as  I  hit 
one  of  those,  it  changed  again  so  that  C  became  1,  D  became  2, 
etc.  What  that  meant  was  that  if  I  wanted  to  go  to,  say,  program  35, 

I  would  step  on  the  footpedal,  hit  E  and  then  G,  and  the  sounds 
would  change  from  chimes,  timpani,  and  woodblock,  to  strings, 
vocal  samples,  and  tabla,  or  whatever.  And  it  happened  fast;  I 
could  hit  the  two  notes  almost  as  close  together  as  you  would  play 
a  flam,  and  it  would  change  instantaneously. 

"The  guys  at  Intelligent  Music  were  pretty  amazed  by  that.  They 
helped  us — myself  and  the  technicians,  Bob  Rice  and  Chuck 
Becker — work  out  the  system  when  I  told  them  what  we  wanted  to 
do  one  night  at  a  rehearsal.  They  didn't  have  to  burn  any  new  chips 
or  anything;  they  just  had  to  type  some  numbers  into  the  program. 
You  can  write  hexadecimal  code  into  The  Mapper,  which  allows 
for  this  kind  of  unorthodox  programming." 

Hearing  Mann  discuss  electronics  at  this  level,  one  might  as¬ 
sume  that  he  has  some  type  of  engineering  background,  or  at  least 
that  he  spent  a  lot  of  time  learning  about  electronics  in  college.  Not 
so.  During  his  years  as  a  student  at  CalArts,  Ed  spent  major  portions 
of  his  time  studying  the  mridangam — the  principal  hand  drum  of 
South  Indian  classical  (Karnatic)  music.  That's  about  as  far  from 


MODERN  DRUMMER 


21 


Photo  by  Leslie  Burke 


"A  lot  of  percus- 
probably 
technology 
at  their 


1.  Electronics  Rack#1 

Same  as  Zappa  setup 


2.  Electronics  Rack  #2 

Same  as  Zappa  setup  but  without  SDX 


3.  Deagan  vibes  with  transducers 


4.  Simmons  Silicon  Mallet  (3  octave) 


5.  Percussion  Rack 

1  Paiste  14"  Short  Crash 
1  Paiste  2000  series  20"  China-type 
1  Paiste  2000  series  8"  splash 

1  Paiste  3000  series  8"  bell 

2  layered,  old,  cracked  cymbals 

3  LP  cowbells  (high,  medium,  low) 
2  Remo  Spoxe  (5.5"  and  9.5") 

1  Chinese  temple  block 


6.  Remo  Timbales 


7.  Gon  Bops  conga  and  tumba 


8.  Paiste  Sound  Creation  Cong  #4  (24") 


Hand  percussion  (on  tops  of  racks  1  and  2): 
homemade  shakers,  Remo  tambourines,  JAG 
talking  drum  and  Toke  bell,  LP  bell  tree. 


Microphone:  Beyer  M88  dynamic 


Speakers:  2  Electro-Voice  model  100S 


Sticks  and  mallets:  Vic  Firth  5A  sticks;  Vic  Firth 
M2  and  M3  mallets 


Setup  designed  and  built  with  Chuck  Becker 


"On  the  other  hand,  plenty  of  people  become  accomplished 
players  without  going  to  college,  so  college  is  just  one  way  of  doing 
it.  These  days,  it  might  be  financially  prohibitive;  do  you  want  to 
spend  $50,000  for  four  years  in  a  theoretical  environment?  Maybe 
not.  Maybe  you  should  just  go  out  and  start  getting  professional 
experience  as  soon  as  possible.  But  then  again,  maybe  you  are  the 
type  of  person  who  needs  three  or  four  years  of  concentrated  study 
before  you  can  be  ready  to  be  professional.  That  varies  from  indi¬ 
vidual  to  individual. 

"One  thing  I've  noticed  is  that  the  nature  of  the  percussion  stu¬ 
dents  I've  seen  is  changing.  Less  and  less  are  coming  in  as  all¬ 


electronics  as  one  can  get. 

"I  really  should  get  back  into  that,"  Ed  laughs.  "And  I'm  not  sorry 
that  I  spent  all  of  that  time  playing  mridangam.  It  was  time  well 
spent.  For  a  real  all-around  percussionist,  it  takes  years  to  develop 
proficiency  on  all  of  the  instruments.  Electronics  is  just  one  aspect 
of  it.  Hand  drums  are  another  aspect,  and  they  are  really  important, 
as  are  each  of  the  aspects  of  percussion.  To  me  they  are  all  part  of 
the  same  thing." 

But  for  students  entering  college,  certain  decisions  have  to  be 
made.  Should  they  view  college  as  a  place  to  prepare  for  the  real 
world?  If  so,  then  perhaps  they  should  be  taking  courses  in  elec¬ 
tronics  and  in  how  to  record  a  jingle.  Or  should  college  be  a  place 
where  you  can  forget  about  the  real  world  for  a  few  years  and 
concentrate  on  the  art?  As  we  enter  the  '90s,  would  Mann  encour¬ 
age  someone  who  wanted  to  pursue  a  course  in  hand  drumming  for 
four  years,  or  would  he  encourage  a  more  "modern"  course  of 
study? 

"I  don't  know,"  he  says,  after  a  long  pause.  "The  more  years  I 
spend  teaching  at  CalArts  and  hanging  around  the  college  environ¬ 
ment,  the  more  I  am  completely  confused  by  it.  I  don't  know  what 
the  real  purpose  of  college  is.  I  suppose  it  depends  on  the  individ¬ 
ual.  For  me,  the  best  part  of  going  to  college  was  being  exposed  to 
things  I  had  never  seen  or  heard  before,  and  to  be  able  to  experi¬ 
ment  in  a  safe — non-professional — environment.  Also,  it  was  nec¬ 
essary  for  me  in  terms  of  the  fact  that  I  didn't  own  a  marimba  or 
timpani  or  any  of  those  instruments.  So  I 
needed  to  be  in  a  place  that  gave 
me  access  to  all  of  that 
stuff. 


Ed  Mann 
Setup 
(General) 


22 


MODERN  DRUMMER 


Photo  by  Leslie  Burke 


sionists  are 
shocked  that 
ever  arrived 
door." 


1.  Electronics  Rack#1 

1  Axxess/I intelligent  Music  The  Mapper 

2  Yamaha  SPX  90s 

1  Oberheim  Matrix  6R  synthesizer 
1  Oberheim  DPX-1  sample  player 
1  Akai  S900  digital  sampler 
1  Hill  Multi  mix 
1  Alesis  Midiverb  II 
1  Alesis  Microlimiter 
1  Alesis  Micro  Cate 
1  Alesis  Micro  Enhancer 

2.  Electronics  Rack  #2 

1  Simmons  SDX  sampler/workstation 
1  Simmons  SDE synthesizer  module 

3  Simmons  MTX9  Percussion  Modules 
1  Korg  KMX  722  Line  Mixer 

1  Korg  SDD  300  Digital  Delay 
1  Ibanez  MSP  1 000  multi-signal  processor 
1  QSC  model  7200  stereo  power  amp 

3.  Cymbals  and  Gongs  Rack  \ 

1  pair  Paiste  500  series  18"  Band  cymbals 
1  pair  Paiste  2000  series  China-type  cymbals 
1  Paiste  Sound  Creation  Cong  #2  (20.5") 

1  Paiste  Sound  Creation  Gong  #4  (24") 

1  Paiste  Sound  Creation  Gong  #7  (20") 

1  Paiste  30"  Earth  Gong 
1  Paiste  2000  series  8"  splash 

1  Paiste  3000  series  8"  bell 

3  Wuhan  opera  gongs  (1 1",  13",  16") 

2  Paiste  gong  mallets 

4.  KAT  MIDI  Mallet  Controller  (1  octave) 

5.  Six  Simmons  SDX  trigger  pads 

6.  LP  bell  tree 

7.  Ross  orchestra  bells 

8.  Deagan  vibraphone  with  Deagan  transducers 

9.  Hand-percussion  Table 

1  each:  Acme  siren,  police  whistle,  duck 
call,  crow  call,  goose  call,  cuckoo  call, 
nightingale  call,  quail  call,  Carroll  Sound  pop 
gun,  taxi  horn,  ratchet 

Several  of  each:  homemade  shakers,  Remo 
tambourines,  Ludwig  tambourines,  LP  cowbells, 
Brazilian  samba  whistles  and  bird  calls,  air 
tubes 

LP  plastic  maracas 
LP  Clackers 

10.  Simmons  Silicon  Mallet  (4  octave) 

11.  Simmons  Silicon  Mallet  (3  octave) 

Microphones:  Beyer  M500  Ribbon  Microphone 
and  M88  dynamic  microphone 

Sticks  and  mallets:  Vic  Firth  5A  sticks;  Vic  Firth 
M2and  M3  mallets 

Setup  designed  and  built  with  Chuck  Becker 


around,  general 
players  who  are  in¬ 
terested  in  getting  into 
the  whole  thing.  More  and 
more  are  coming  in  as  spe¬ 
cialists.  It's  not  just  with  music;  in 
general,  people  seem  to  be  deciding 
what  specific  career  they  want  to  pursue  before  they  even  enter  col¬ 
lege.  It's  an  '80s  thing. 

"I  don't  know  how  accurate  my  perception  of  this  is,"  Ed  says.  "I 
only  see  one  very  small  group  of  students  who  come  to  one  very 
esoteric  arts  school,  and  I'm  only  involved  with  the  school  peripher¬ 
ally.  John  Bergamo  could  probably  provide  more  information  about 
this.  From  what  I've  seen,  he  does  his  best  to  free  the  students  of  any 
preconceived  ideas  they  may  have  about  percussion  playing  and 
music  in  general,  and  eventually  get  them  into  musical  situations 
they  probably  never  dreamed  of.  That's  pretty  valuable  if  you  can 
afford  to  do  it — take  some  chances  and  delve  into  some  new  areas 
to  help  you  decide  what  you  like  and  what  you  don't  like." 

And  perhaps  that's  the  connection  between  mridangam  and  elec¬ 
tronics.  When  Ed  first  came  to  CalArts,  he  was  taught  to  be  open  to 
new  possibilities,  whatever  they  may  be.  "I  had  no  idea  what  a 
mridangam  was,"  he  says,  "or  gamelan,  or  any  of  that  stuff.  It  all 
kind  of  hit  me  right  in  the  face.  So  yeah,  that  could  be  true.  My  mind 
was  opened  up  to  exploring  all  the  possibilities.  Compared  to  mri¬ 
dangam,  electronics  weren't  all  that  mysterious.  There  were  a  lot  of 
other  people  involved  in  it  that  you  could  talk  to  about  it,  and  all  of 
the  instruments  came  with  manuals." 

Another  mind-opening  experience  for  Ed  was  his  involvement  in 
the  CalArts  percussion  ensemble,  which  evolved  into  the  Repercus¬ 
sion  Unit — a  group  that  has  continued  to  this  day.  They  released  a 
critically-acclaimed  album  on  CMP  records  in  1988,  titled  In  Need 
Again,  and  have  recently  been  in  the  studio  preparing  their  next 
release.  "We  went  to  Germany  in  May  and  did  four  days  of  track¬ 
ing,"  Ed  explains.  "Whereas  In  Need  Again  was  made  up  of  actual 
composed  pieces,  this  one  will  consist  of  a  different  kind  of  material 
that  we've  been  developing  ever  since  we  first  played  together.  It's 
completely  improvisational — not  rehearsed,  not  arranged.  Basically, 


continued  on  page  52 


Ed  Mann 
Setup 

(Zappa  Band 
1988) 


23 


MODERN  DRUMMER 


One  look  at  Steve  Riley  and  there's  no  doubt  that  he's  in  a  heavy  metal  band — the  long 
black  hair,  the  black  painted  fingernails — but  there  is  an  abundance  underneath  the 
exterior  that  is  impossible  to  know  until  a  lengthy  conversation  has  been  had.  First  off, 
Steve's  passion  is  jazz,  and  if  the  truth  be  known,  he  wishes  that  genre  of  music  were 
financially  lucrative  for  him.  That's  the  other  thing  about  Steve  that  is  interesting:  He's 
been  able  to  see  heavy  metal  music  as  a  job — one  he  enjoys,  but  a  job  nonetheless. 

In  the  thickest  of  Boston  accents,  Steve  talks  about  the  several  record  deals  he's  had 
throughout  the  pursuit  of  the  ideal  situation.  From  Keel  to  WASP,  and  now  with  L.A.  Guns, 
Steve  has  found  his  niche  in  heavy  metaldom.  He's  made  money  and  lost  money,  had  high 
expectations  and  had  his  hopes  dashed,  meeting  with  large  doses  of  the  reality  of 
disappointment  that  goes  with  the  music  business.  And  he  has  discovered  that  it  is  a 
business.  Openly,  he  shares  the  lessons  learned  and  insights  gathered  through  his  many 
trials  and  tribulations. 


Steve 


RF:  I  understand  that  you  are  a  heavy  jazz 
fan. 

SR:  Big  time.  I  started  off  playing  jazz.  My 
mom  and  dad  turned  me  on  to  Gene  Krupa 
and  Buddy  Rich  when  I  was  growing  up  in 
Boston.  I  was  about  four  or  five  years  old.  I 
saw  The  Gene  Krupa  Story  with  Sal  Mineo, 
and  that  was  that.  I  bought  a  lot  of  Krupa 
and  Buddy  Rich  duo  records,  so  I  started 
playing  drums  before  Ringo  and  all  of  that. 
It  was  Ringo  who  turned  me  on  to  the 
whole  rock  scene,  but  I  got  my  feet  wet 
with  jazz. 

RF:  How  were  you  learning  to  play? 

SR:  By  myself.  I  used  to  live  in  the  projects 
in  Boston,  and  a  guy  who  lived  across  from 
us  gave  me  my  first  pair  of  sticks  and  started 
showing  me  how  to  play  a  little  bit.  I  did 
the  marching  band  trip  when  I  was  six  and 
seven.  They  taught  me  a  couple  of  rudi¬ 
ments  and  stuff  like  that. 

RF:  So  when  you  were  listening  to  records, 
what  were  you  doing? 


SR:  I  was  zeroing  in  on  what  the  drummers 
were  doing.  I  only  had  a  snare  drum,  and 
then  I  got  a  hi-hat  and  then  a  kick  drum. 
Because  there  were  so  many  kids  in  my 
family,  it  was  one  piece  at  a  time.  But  I  was 
really  zeroing  in  with  my  ear.  I  learned  on 
the  snare  first,  and  then  after  the  kick  and 
hi-hat,  I  really  didn't  need  much. 

Then  I  started  listening  to  Ringo,  Charlie 
Watts,  John  Bonham,  and 
Ginger  Baker.  That 

\\&y 

was  when  I  started  being  able  to  play  with 
some  kids  on  the  block.  I  slowly  pulled 
away  from  jazz — always  listening  to  it,  but 
not  playing  it  much,  except  on  my  own. 
RF:  Do  you  feel  that  jazz  has  helped  you 
along  the  way? 

SR:  Without  a  doubt,  because  coordination 
in  jazz  is  so  much  more  critical.  For  any 
drummer  who  can  take  the  time  to  listen  to 
some  jazz  drummers,  the  wealth  that  can 
be  picked  up  is  just  insane.  But  mostly,  it 
gets  coordination  down.  Rock  drumming 
really  does  seem  manual  after  that  because 
it  is  just  so  4/4,  straight  sitting  on  the  beat. 
Jazz  is  so  free-form  and  coordinated  that 
every  drummer  should  do  it. 

RF:  What  was  your  first  professional  gig? 
SR:  It  was  with  a  band  in  Boston  in  the 
'60s,  at  a  disco  called  the  Ball  Of  Confu¬ 
sion.  I  was  about  12  years  old,  and  I  had  to 
stay  in  the  kitchen  when  the  set  ended.  The 
rest  of  the  guys  were  old  enough  to  drink 
beer.  I  was  always  hanging  with  guys  much 


older  than  me,  like  a  five-  or  six-year  differ¬ 
ence. 

RF:  When  did  you  decide  to  make  drum¬ 
ming  your  career? 

SR:  I  was  so  impressed  by  the  drums  them¬ 
selves,  I  wasn't  even  thinking  about  ending 
up  in  a  rock  band.  I  was  thinking  mainly, 
"Someday  I'm  going  to  be  able  to  play  as 
good  as  Buddy  Rich  or  Gene  Krupa."  It 
didn't  change  until  I  started  doing  those 
gigs  at  12  or  13,  thinking,  "Well,  maybe  I 
could  do  this  for  a  living."  But  when  I  was 
first  playing,  I  was  just  consumed  with 
wanting  to  learn. 

RF:  When  you  finally  figured  that  you  might 
do  this  for  your  livelihood,  what  was  the 
plan? 

SR:  I  was  mostly  concentrating  on  playing 
every  day.  That's  what  I  still  concentrate 
on,  and  that's  what  I  tell  kids  who  come  up 
and  ask  for  suggestions.  It's  just,  "Keep  play¬ 
ing." 

So  I  played  with  all  the  club  bands  in 
Boston,  doing  cover  material:  Stones, 
Beatles,  Cream,  Blind  Faith — that  late  '60s 
stuff.  That's  why  I  am  very  impressed  with 
Charlie  Watts  and  Ringo;  they  came  up 
with  the  beats.  They  weren't  flashy,  but 
they  never  dropped  a  beat;  they  were  al¬ 
ways  there.  When  somebody  has  that  many 
hit  singles,  you  have  to  look  at  the  drum¬ 
mer;  Charlie  and  Ringo  were  playing  that 
backbeat. 

RF:  Did  you  think  you  might  have  to  leave 
Boston  in  order  to  succeed? 

SR:  The  last  couple  of  years  of  high  school, 

I  knew  I  was  going  to  have  to  go,  and  I  was 
figuring  out  how  I  was  going  to  break  it  to 
my  folks.  They  were  very  supportive,  obvi¬ 
ously,  because  they  let  me  play  in  their 
house  every  day  for  years,  so  they  knew 
something  was  going  to  come  down.  But 


24 


MODERN  DRUMMER 


they  wanted  all  of 
us  to  go  to  college. 

My  dad  wanted  to 
send  me  to  the  New 
England  Conservatory, 
and  I  could  have  taken  that  route  where 
I'd  learn  how  to  be  a  real  learned  mu¬ 
sician,  to  read  and  write  charts  and  do 
that  kind  of  a  trip;  or  I  was  going  to 
have  to  take  this  trip  that  was  a  little 
harder  and  more  gritty.  When  I  was  in 
my  senior  year,  a  good  friend  of  mine, 
Frank  Dimino,  was  in  Angel,  and  it 
was  the  first  time  I  saw  anybody  get¬ 
ting  out  of  Boston,  playing  the  clubs 
and  cities  outside  of  Boston.  So  as  soon 
as  I  got  my  diploma,  I  was  gone.  I  went  to 
D.C.,  then  New  York,  then  back  to  D.C., 
and  then  I  started  moving  across  country. 
RF:  What  was  happening  inside  your  head 
while  you  were  doing  all  this? 

SR:  I  was  totally  relentless.  I  still  am.  I 
won't  let  anything  bring  me  down  or  allow 
any  roadblocks  to  freak  me  out.  I  got  past 
that.  At  first  I  thought  New  York  was  the 
music  center,  and  I  realized  very  quickly 
that  L.A.  is  really  the  center  for  sessions,  for 
the  studios,  for  meeting  the  managers  and 
record  producers.  So  my  objective  was  to 


oing 

H 


w 

1 

s 


end  up  in  Los  Angeles.  I 
knew  I  was  going  to  go 
to  Chicago,  Indianapolis, 
back  to  New  York  and  D.C., 
and  even  to  Salt  Lake  City. 
RF:  What  were  you  doing  while  you 
were  living  in  these  cities? 

SR:  Playing  in  different  bands.  I've 
been  in  a  few  in  my  time.  I'm  talking 
about  at  least  eight  cities  where  I  set 
up  shop.  Obviously  I  would  call 
ahead,  or  they  were  turned 
on  to  me  through 
other  musi¬ 
cians,  and 
they'd  make 
an  offer.  I 
ended  up  in  In¬ 
dianapolis  in  '76  with  Roadmasteron  Mer¬ 
cury  Records.  That  was  my  first  album, 
though  I  had  done  tons  of  demos  at  the  end 
of  the  '60s  and  early  '70s  all  over  Boston, 
D.C.,  and  New  York.  There  were  strange 
demos,  rock  demos,  and  fusion  demos, 
which  were  the  most  fun. 

If  I  had  stayed  in  Indianapolis,  though,  I 
don't  think  I  would  have  been  as  hungry.  I 
would  have  really  calmed  down  and  laid 
back,  figuring,  "Hey,  we're  doing  another 


j 


Ofy 


record,  that's  fine."  So  it  was  a  big  move 
when  I  came  to  LA.  There  was  a  guy  wait¬ 
ing  for  me  who  had  been  in  a  band  on 
Casablanca.  He  was  no  longer  with  them, 
but  he  said  he  had  a  whole  bunch  of  con¬ 
nections  and  said,  "Wanna  take  a  stab  at 
it?"  It  was  '77,  and  I  never  left.  I  moved 
back  to  Chicago  to  play  the  scene  back 
there,  but  I  always  kept  my  place  here. 

So  it  turned  out  that  he  had  slight  con¬ 
nections,  which  was  good  enough  to  just 
get  my  feet  wet,  but  it  was  still  really  hard 
times.  From  '77  to  '79,  it  was  pretty  diffi¬ 
cult.  I  did  some  sessions  and  demo  work 
around  here  and  played  in  some  club  bands, 
but  it  was  tough.  I  would  suggest  to  any 
musician  coming  to  Los  Angeles  to  make 
sure  there  is  at  least  something  waiting  for 
you,  some  kind  of  setup.  I  did  it  the  hard 
way.  I  thought  there  was  something  wait¬ 
ing,  but  there  really  wasn't.  But  I  grinded  it 
out  for  two  years,  doing  everything,  play¬ 
ing  and  living  in  a  commune — all  of  that 
thing.  I  could  get  by  on  five  bucks,  but  I 
was  still  playing  every  day.  I  had  my  drums 
set  up  somewhere  every  day.  Then  '79 

by  Robyn  Flans 


MODERN  DRUMMER 


25 


ing  for  that  time  when  I've 
made  enough  money  so  I 
can  do  a  solo  LP  and  not 
worry  if  the  thing  sells,  and 
hire  musicians  like  Stanley 
Clarke,  Jeff  Beck,  and  a  key¬ 
board  player  like  Chick 
Corea,  and  just  go  for  it.  I 
know  I  can  write  material 
for  an  album  like  that  be¬ 
cause  I'm  really  into  it,  but  it 
will  be  a  while  before  I  get 
there.  That's  where  I'm 
headed,  though.  It  would  be 
nice  not  to  have  to  worry 
about  sales. 

RF:  Let's  get  back  to  the 
trudge  up  to  artistic  expres¬ 
sion.  The  Steppenwolf  thing 
ended,  and  then  what? 

SR:  The  lead  singer  for  that 
was  Tom  Holland;  we  both 
knew  each  other  from  those 
two  years  in  L.A.  We  came 
back  to  Los  Angeles,  and  he 
called  me  and  told  me  about 
a  band  called  the  Boyzz  from 
Illinois.  They  had  been 
signed  already,  but  they  were 
re-forming  and  changing 
their  name.  They  took  the  "oy"  out  and 
called  it  the  Bzz,  which  was  a  difficult 
name  to  pronounce.  But  he  called  and  said 
they  were  close  to  a  deal  with  CBS,  and  I 
joined  the  Bzz  in  '81.  I  moved  to  Chicago, 
although  I  kept  my  apartment  here  in  L.A., 
and  I  did  that  for  about  a  year  and  a  half.  It 
was  the  first  time  I  realized  there  were  other 
people  involved  with  our  careers.  If  you 
don't  have  a  good  manager,  you're  screwed. 

I  think  the  band  really  had  a  chance  to  do 
something.  There  was  a  strong  single,  and 
the  producer,  Tom  Werman,  was  gung  ho 
behind  the  band  and  so  was  the  label,  but 
there  wasn't  anybody  manning  the  phone, 
a  killer  manager.  A  lot  has  to  do  with  that, 
and  it  was  an  important  realization.  The 
Bzz  died  slowly  but  surely,  and  I  came 
back  to  L.A.  around  '84  and  got  back  into 
doing  some  sessions. 

RF:  How  did  you  get  into  sessions? 

SR:  I  just  did  it  on  my  own.  I  put  an  ad  in 
every  trade,  I  answered  every  ad,  and  per¬ 
sonally  went  to  check  everything  out.  If 
you  just  check  them  out  long  enough,  you'll 
find  something,  some  kind  of  session,  even 
if  it's  not  great  paying.  It  will  put  you  be¬ 
hind  a  kit  to  play.  That's  the  main  thing. 
Living  in  an  apartment,  I  was  trying  to  find 
a  place  to  play,  so  I'd  go  to  these  places 
where  they  said  they  were  just  putting  to¬ 
gether  bands,  or  doing  demos  where  they 
could  slide  me  50  bucks.  That  was  the 
beginning  of '84,  and  I  was  doing  this  one 
session,  and  the  bass  player  said,  "I  know 
of  this  gig,  and  you  should  call  the  lead 
singer  and  tell  him  you're  in  town  and 
you're  looking  for  a  gig."  He  was  talking 
about  Ron  Keel  of  Keel.  I  asked  the  bass 
player,  "Does  he  have  a  drummer?"  He 
said,  "Yes,  but  I  think  he  wants  to  get  rid  of 
him.  He's  already  done  an  independent 


rolled  around  and  the  original  bass  player 
in  Steppenwolf,  Nick  St.  Nicholas,  called. 
Something  happened  with  that  band  where 
all  five  members  owned  the  name,  so  when 
it  broke  up,  each  member  took  out  a  band 
on  his  own  saying  it  was  Steppenwolf, 
which  was  pretty  strange.  But  he  asked  me 
to  come  out  and  offered  me  $  100  a  show 
to  play  every  night  every  week  with  an 
extra  $100  a  week,  which  was  going  to  be 
like  $800  a  week,  and  in  '79  I  was  think¬ 
ing,  "Whoa!"  Their  drummer  had  split  real 
quick,  and  they  had  this  whole  tour  booked. 
I  stayed  for  two  years.  I  was  glad  to  be  in 
the  money  all  of  a  sudden,  but  at  the  same 
time,  I  knew  it  was  a  dead  end.  I  was  doing 
an  oldies  show.  It  was  all  old  Steppenwolf 
hits,  like  "Magic  Carpet  Ride"  and  "Born 
To  Be  Wild."  The  money  was  great,  but  at 
the  end  of  the  second  year,  I  wanted  to  be 
branching  out. 

RF:  What  was  it  you  were  aiming  for,  what 
was  the  goal  along  the  way? 

SR:  I've  always  been  into  musicians  be¬ 
cause  of  what  I  was  listening  to  at  a  very 
early  age.  I've  always  been  into  "no  holds 
barred  musicians."  I  really  respect  Jeff  Beck 
because  he  never  tires  himself  out  playing 
one  kind  of  music.  He  keeps  changing.  He 
went  from  blues  to  rock  and  fusion,  and  he 
keeps  going.  I  have  a  ways  to  go  before  I 
get  recognized  like  that,  but  I  would  like  to 
model  myself  after  someone  like  Jeff  Beck, 
where  I  could  keep  going  from  style  to 
style,  not  being  just  a  rock  drummer  or  a 
fusion  drummer.  I  would  like  to  do  a  coun¬ 
try  gig,  a  blues  gig,  and  everything.  The 
niche  I'm  in  right  now  is  definitely  the 
bombastic  heavy  drummer,  and  I  can  do 
that  so  easily.  It's  easy  to  do  if  you've  been 
playing  drums  as  long  as  I  have,  and  it 
should  be  an  easy  gig.  But  I'm  still  search- 


A.  6  1/2  x  14  bell  brass  snare 

B.  13  x  14  rack  tom 

C.  16  x  16  floor  tom 

D.  16  x  18  floor  tom 

E.  16  x  26  bass  drum 

F.  26"  timpani 


Cymbals:  Zildjian. 


1.  15"  heavy  hi-hats 

2.  20"  heavy  crash 

3.  20"  heavy  crash 

4.  22"  ping  ride 

5.  19"  heavy  crash 

6.  20"  heavy  crash 

7.  48"  gong 


Hardware:  Drum  Work¬ 
shop  hi-hat  and  bass  drum 
pedals. 

Heads:  Remo  CS  (black 
dot)  heads  on  snare  drum 
and  tops  of  all  toms  (no 
muffling),  Remo  Ebony 
Ambassadors  on  bottoms 
of  toms.  Remo  coated 
Ambassador  on  bass  drum 
batter  head,  and  Ebony 
Ambassador  on  front. 
(There  is  one  strip  of  felt  on 
each  head  and  a  1"  piece 
of  foam  in  the  bottom  of 
the  drum  for  muffling.) 
Sticks:  Pro-Mark  2B  model, 
played  with  the  butt  end. 


DrumsetTama  Artstarl  1 
in  custom  green  sparkle 
finish. 


26 


MODERN  DRUMMER 


album,  and  he's  getting  ready 
to  do  another  album  for  A&M 
with  Gene  Simmons  produc¬ 
ing."  So  I  called  Ron  Keel 
and  said,  "You  should  kick 
your  drummer  out.  I'll  blow 
him  out  the  door,"  or  some¬ 
thing  like  that.  I  got  really 
ballsy  on  the  phone. 

RF:  Couldn't  you  have 
rubbed  him  the  wrong  way 
with  that  kind  of  arrogance? 

SR:  Yes,  but  I  just  went  for  it. 

The  bass  player  had  said  he 
knew  I  would  get  the  gig,  so 
I  should  act  like  it.  So  Ron 
said,  "My  drummer  is  out  of 
town  for  a  couple  of  days,  so 
why  don't  you  come  by  to¬ 
night?"  I  stuck  my  drums  in 
the  van  and  went  right  over, 
and  I  got  the  gig  that  night. 

They  played  the  album  for 
me,  and  I  don't  know,  maybe 
it's  from  playing  so  long,  but 
I  have  learned  how  to  lock 
into  a  song  immediately.  I 
worked  on  that  for  a  long 
time,  how  to  sit  and  listen  to 
a  song  and  be  able  to  play 
right  away.  So  I  listened  to  it 
and  played  it,  and  it  was  pretty  basic  metal. 
Metal  was  very  big  right  then,  and  it  was 
right  up  that  alley.  It  showed  me  that  if  you 
think  you  can  do  it,  call  up  and  say,  "I  can 
do  that.  You  should  do  yourself  a  favor  and 
let  me  come  over  and  play  for  an  hour."  Be 
a  little  cocky  about  it.  Get  behind  yourself 
a  little  bit. 

RF:  The  story  goes  you  had  something  like 
three  days  to  learn  this  record? 

SR:  Yes,  it  was  strange.  I  got  the  gig  that 
first  night,  and  Gene  Simmons  came  in  the 
second  night.  I  knew  Gene  from  back  in 
77  and  78,  because  the  band  I  was  with 
was  trying  to  get  him  involved.  It  never 
worked,  but  I  had  met  him  and  we  had 
become  friends.  So  that  was  really  cool 
that  we  knew  each  other,  and  he  said,  "Are 
you  going  to  be  able  to  do  this?"  We  were 
supposed  to  go  in  in  a  few  days  and  I  said, 
"Yes,  I'll  be  ready." 

RF:  What  did  you  do  to  get  ready? 

SR:  I  went  home  and  listened  to  the  tapes 
over  and  over  again.  I  went  into  rehearsal 
each  day  for  the  next  few  days  and  I  did  it. 
They  didn't  have  a  big  budget,  so  we  went 
into  the  Record  Plant,  and  Barbra  Streisand 
was  in  the  room  we  were  supposed  to  be 
in,  and  she  was  going  overtime.  I  kept  look¬ 
ing  at  the  clock  because  I  knew  they  wanted 
me  to  do  my  tracks  boom,  boom,  boom, 
right  in  a  row.  I  didn't  get  in  there  to  get  my 
drum  sounds  until  about  1:00  in  the  morn¬ 
ing,  so  around  3:00  in  the  morning  I  did  a 
quick  soundcheck  and  I  did  all  my  tracks 
that  night — 1 1  tracks  right  in  a  row.  I  grinded 
it  out.  It  was  me  and  Gene  in  there,  and  I 
even  did  four  or  five  tracks  without  guitars 
in  there.  I  knew  I  had  to  do  it,  though. 

RF:  Which  album  was  that? 

SR:  That  was  The  Right  To  Rock,  the  first 


album  they  did.  Gene  and  I  were  doing  all 
the  backgrounds  on  it  too,  because  Gene 
sings  great,  obviously,  and  he  said  I  had  a 
good  range  to  sing  a  lot  of  the  backgrounds. 

I  was  supposed  to  sign  contracts  for  band 
and  management  with  Keel  the  next  day 
after  doing  the  backgrounds,  when  I  got  a 
call  at  the  Record  Plant  while  we  were  on 
a  break.  The  guy  said,  "I  can't  tell  you  who 
I  am."  And  I  said,  "Why?"  And  he  said, 
"Because  I  know  you're  in  there  doing  this 
album  right  now  with  Gene  and  Ron,  and  I 
don't  want  to  screw  that  up."  Here  I  am  in 
the  lounge  area  with  the  whole  band  there 
and  he  says,  "How  would  you  like  to  do  a 
world  tour  with  a  world-class  act?"  I  said, 
"Who  are  you  talking  about?"  He  said, 
"Believe  me,  it's  a  world-class  act  and  it's 
going  to  be  big."  I  said,  "I'm  supposed  to 
sign  management  contracts  tomorrow,  so 
you'd  better  tell  me  who  you  are."  He  said, 
"Why  don't  you  call  me  when  you  get 
home  from  the  studio."  It  was  Blackie  Law¬ 
less.  He  told  me  he  had  heard  through  the 
grapevine  how  I  came  in  and  did  the  Keel 
album  on  such  short  notice.  He  told  me 
they  had  just  let  their  drummer  go  after 
doing  the  first  album,  and  they  had  two 
weeks  for  some  drummer  to  come  in,  get 
the  look  down,  learn  the  whole  show,  and 
start  to  fit  in  before  going  to  England. 

RF:  Was  he  offering  you  band  member¬ 
ship? 

SR:  He  said  it  would  be  on  a  contingency 
basis.  I  would  do  the  world  tour,  and  we'd 
evaluate  it  with  management  and  every¬ 
one,  and  I'd  become  a  member  when  we 
got  back  to  the  States.  That  didn't  sound  so 
good;  I  would  have  rathered  they  just  em¬ 
brace  me,  but  that  wasn't  going  to  happen. 
So  all  of  a  sudden  I  had  two  cool  things 


happening.  It  looked  like  a  good  package 
with  Keel,  with  Simmons  and  Danny  Gold¬ 
berg  running  the  show.  I  had  done  a  gig 
with  them,  too,  in  that  short  span,  and  they 
had  gone  over  really  well.  There  was  a  big 
to-do  about  them.  Then  Blackie  called  and 
I  made  the  decision  to  do  the  WASP  thing. 
I  had  seen  WASP  two  weeks  before  that, 
and  I  knew  they  were  missing  something.  I 
knew  they  had  something  killer  happen¬ 
ing,  but  there  was  also  something  missing. 
They  made  it  clear  that  it  was  the  drum¬ 
mer,  because  they  let  him  go.  I  saw  the 
press  they  were  getting,  and  they  told  me 
about  the  record  deal  and  showed  me  their 
offices,  and  it  was  a  step  up  from  what  Keel 
was  doing  at  the  time.  As  a  career  deci¬ 
sion,  I  couldn't  do  anything  but  go  with 
WASP. 

When  I  joined  WASP  and  went  on  that 
tour  that  year,  the  Keel  album  came  out.  I 
got  a  copy  sent  to  me,  and  there  were  the 
five  band  members  with  the  new  drummer. 
The  last  thing  was  "Duane  Miller,  drums 
and  vocals."  Underneath  that  in  small  print, 
it  said  "Steve  Riley,  additional  drums  and 
vocals" — and  I  did  the  whole  album.  I  felt 
good  about  the  fact  that  I  came  in  and  did 
the  job  they  asked  me  to  do.  They  wanted 
to  do  this  album  in  a  certain  amount  of 
time,  and  I  felt  good  about  that,  which  was 
the  saving  grace  of  the  whole  situation.  But 
it  was  a  career  decision.  Nobody  is  going 
to  help  you  if  you  don't  help  yourself.  I 
have  friends  who  have  turned  killer  gigs 
down  thinking  the  band  they  were  in  was 
going  to  happen.  That  loyalty  thing  is  great 
to  a  certain  point,  but  you  have  to  worry 
about  screwing  yourself. 

RF:  So  you  joined  WASP  with  two  weeks  to 

confrrTLitff/  r>n  70 


MODERN  DRUMMER 


27 


Photo  by  Lynn  McAfee 


28 


Alvin  Stoller 


has  done  it  all  on  drums. 


Alvin  Stoller  at  the  1939  World's  Fair,  where  he  won  the  Gene  Krupa 
Drum  Contest.  Krupa  is  at  right  of  photo. 


Star  of  the  big  bands,  jazz  player,  show  percussionist, 
recording  musician,  and  studio  man  for  films  and  television, 
he  has  a  background  in  music  that  exceeds  most  others,  in  depth  and  variety. 

The  love  affair  with  drums  began  for  Stoller  when  he  was  a  small  boy  tn  Brooklyn  in  the  1930s. 

His  intensity  of  interest  grew  as  he  got  older. 

The  instrument  ultimately  gave  his  life  depth  and  purpose 
and  provided  a  means  for  making  a  good  living, 
but  money  didn't  enter  into  things  when  Stoller  was  a  youngster. 


Just  playing  was  the  thing. 

by  Burt  Korall 


MODERN  DRUMMER 


CK>-O-0 


MODERN  DRUMMER 


29 


Photo  by  Jaeger  Kotos 


vocal.  The  other  side  was  'Liza,'  an  instru¬ 
mental  on  which  Chick  opens  up.  His  sound 
and  approach  caught  my  attention.  He  did 
so  much  for  the  band;  his  time  was  firm, 
and  his  solos  were  a  natural  extension  of 
the  music.  He  had  great  technique.  But  it 
was  his  feeling  that  got  to  me.  As  far  as  I'm 
concerned,  feeling  is  one  of  the  key  as¬ 
pects  of  drumming,  particularly  jazz  drum¬ 
ming. 

"During  that  period,  I  also  picked  up  a 
lot  by  listening  to  remote  broadcasts  by  the 
big  bands  from  hotels,  ballrooms,  and  clubs. 

They  came  from  all  over  the 
country,  and  that  added  to  the 
excitement." 

It  was  inspiring  to  be  in 
New  York  in  the  1930s,  when 
Stoller  got  his  start  as  a  drum¬ 
mer.  The  ambience  provided 
great  motivation  for  the  young 
musician.  "Music  was  in  the  air 
in  New  York,"  Stoller  reflects. 
"It  was  everywhere.  The  bands 
appeared  at  the  presentation 
theaters — the  Paramount,  the 
Strand,  the  Capitol,  the  Roxy. 
Harlem  and  Greenwich  Village 
were  filled  with  music  and  musicians.  It 
didn't  matter  what  part  of  town  you  were 
in.  Music  was  there  to  be  enjoyed.  And  it 
was  real. 

"For  the  aspiring  drummer,  there  also 
were  the  drum  shops  on  Manhattan's  48th 
Street,  in  downtown  Manhattan,  and  in 
Brooklyn.  They  were  an  inspiration.  As  soon 
as  I  walked  into  one  of  them,  I  was  drawn 
to  the  drums  and  cymbals.  I  couldn't  help 
but  touch  them.  Generally  I  used  any  ex¬ 
cuse  to  buy  something — a  pair  of  sticks  or 


Alvin 

Stoller 


As  soon  as  he  heard  drums,  he  gave  up 
piano  lessons  and  turned  all  his  attention 
to  percussion.  "I  began  banging  on  every¬ 
thing  around  the  house.  I  drove  my  parents 
crazy,"  Stoller  remembers.  "I  even  took  the 
stays  out  of  my  mother's  corset  and  put 
them  together  with  rubber  bands  so  I  could 
use  them  like  a  pair  of  brushes. 

"My  mother  spoke  to  my  piano  teacher, 
who  suggested  I  take  drum  lessons.  That 
would  determine  whether  my  love  was  le¬ 
git  and  whether  I  had  talent  for  the  instru¬ 
ment.  I  began  studying  with  Willy  Kessler, 


who  played  in  theaters  around  town.  We 
were  together  for  three  years.  He  was  a 
beautiful  man  and  a  great  teacher.  He  not 
only  gave  me  lessons,  he  gave  me  on-the- 
job  training.  I  would  sit  in  the  pit  with  him 
)  at  the  theater  and  watch  while  he  played  a 
show.  It  was  so  helpful  to  me  later  when  I 
did  stage  shows  and  TV  variety  programs. 

"I  also  learned  by  listening  to  records. 
Chick  Webb  was  my  first  influence.  My 
brother  Teddy  and  I  bought  the  Webb  rec¬ 
ord  'A  Tisket  A  Tasket'  for  Ella  Fitzgerald's 


Above:  Paul  Smith 
(piano),  Benny 
Goodman  (clarinet), 
and  Stoller  perform¬ 
ing  in  Salt  Lake  City. 


30 


MODERN  DRUMMER 


brushes.  So  when  I  went  home, 

I  retained  the  good  feeling  I 
had  in  the  store.  In  addition,  a 
drum  shop  was  a  place  where 
you  could  talk  drums  with  oth¬ 
ers  who  loved  to  play.  That 
made  you  feel  a  part  of  the 
scene. 

"I  didn't  become  active  as  a 
drummer  until  I  was  12.1  would 
just  listen  to  the  bands  rehearse, 
occasionally  play,  look  at  the 
drummers — that  sort  of  rou¬ 
tine." 

Stoller's  first  major  job  as  a 
professional — he  was  going  on  13 — was  at 
a  resort  in  the  Catskill  Mountains  in  up¬ 
state  New  York.  He  worked  there  for  a  sum¬ 
mer,  sleeping  in  the  theater — the  casino — 
on  the  premises,  as  did  the  rest  of  the  staff 
of  musicians  and  entertainers.  He  learned 
how  to  play  a  show  and  how  to  back  vari¬ 
ous  kinds  of  performers.  This,  too,  would 
be  very  helpful  later  on. 

When  he  returned  home  to  Brooklyn,  he 
took  the  drum  chair  in  his 
brother  Teddy's  big  band. 

"Teddy  was  the  pianist;  we 
used  to  play  Count  Basie  stock 
arrangements — 'Shorty 
George,'  'Jumpin'  At  The 
Woodside,'  'One  O'Clock 
Jump' — and  Benny  Goodman 
things  as  well,"  he  explains. 

"We'd  work  social  clubs  in 
Brooklyn,  dances — we  used  to 
have  a  ball. 

"There  were  a  lot  of  great 
young  musicians  coming  along 
at  that  time  in  Brooklyn  and 

MODERN  DRUMMER 


<^>-0-0 


Manhattan — trumpeter  Tony  Faso,  saxo¬ 
phonist  Sam  Marowitz,  guitarist  Chuck 
Wayne,  my  pal  Shelly  Manne.  We  all  were 
very  enthusiastic.  If  one  of  us  got  a  good 
job,  we  were  so  proud.  I  remember  when 
Shelly  got  a  job  with  Bob  Astor's  band,  then 
moved  on  to  Bobby  Byrne's  band  at  the 
Pennsylvania  Hotel.  It  was  a  thrill." 

Stoller  won  a  drum  contest  at  the  New 
York  World's  Fair  in  1939.  About  300  drum- 


Above:  Stoller  at 
the  3  Deuces  Club 
on  52nd  St.  with 
(left  to  right) 

Sandy  Block, 

Hank  Jones,  and 
Charlie  Shavers. 


Below:  Stoller  on 
the  movie  set  for 
The  Fabulous  Dorseys. 


continued  on  page  R2 

31 


This  Is  T omorrow" 


o 


by  Ed  Mann 


Recently  some  friends  and  I  recorded  an  album  for  CMP 
records  called  Get  Up.  "This  Is  Tomorrow"  is  the  first 
tune  off  of  Get  Up  and  is  the  subject  of  this  Sound  Supplement. 

Compositionally,  "This  Is  Tomorrow"  loosely  reflects  several 
different  influences,  including  South  Indian  drumming  and  rhyth¬ 
mic  composition,  rhythm  "phasing"  (a  la  composers  Terry  Riley, 
Steve  Reich,  Philip  Glass,  and  others),  and  mbira  and  kalimba 
music  from  various  parts  of  Africa.  The  final  interpretation  is 
within  the  context  of  electronic/acoustic  pop-jazz. 

The  seed  of  the  tune  is  a  19-bar  improvised  rhythm/melody  that 
was  originally  drummed  up  on  a  KAT  mallet  controller  into  a 


computer.  (This  was  for  observation  and  parts 
printing  only;  there  is  no  machine  sequencing 
involved  in  the  final  recorded  performance.) 

In  order  to  turn  this  rhythm/melody  into 
material  for  a  "tune,"  the  "master  lick"  is  bro¬ 
ken  up  into  fragments,  which  gradually  increase 
in  size  and  eventually  lead  to  the  entire  19-bar 
phrase.  (See  fragment  markings,  Ex.  A.)  An  eight- 
bar  condensed  version  (Ex.  B)  and  an  ending 
pattern  (C)  follow. 

The  players  use  these  fragments  improvisa- 
tionally  to  move  through  the  tune  in  kind  of  a 
"call  and  response"  motion.  Pattern  B  is  played  one  bar  out  of 
phase  between  the  mallets  and  guitar  to  create  a  temporary  (safe) 
hypnotizing  effect.  Pattern  C  provides  a  steady  rhythm  ostinato  for 
the  horns  to  play  over.  The  only  compositional  indication  to  the 
horns  from  the  composer  is  to  create  contrast  by  playing  long 
tones  and  to  build  with  the  drummer.  At  this  point  it's  important  to 
mention  that  all  of  the  individuals  who  participated  in  this  record¬ 
ing  contributed  creatively  to  the  final  performance.  Thank  you, 
guys. 

I  hope  you  enjoy  listening  to  this  music  as  much  as  we  did 
creating  it. 


Example  A 


32 


MODERN  DRUMMER 


ft!  MD  Sound  Supplement  &S§ 


(frag  6,  7,  and  13- 


>(end  frag  9>- 


{frag  5 


yJ?  J  ?  J  ? Ji=ii 


j  ILL  .  i|i  |  j  | 

it  ii 

F  r  F  F  W  **  *  M 

fm  "  S  *7  m  m  m  */ 

V 

r  r  j  #  7  »  v  j 

If  7  a  *  *  a1  7  n a^z 

2^ 

^  j  ?  a  ^  7  m  7  7  j  7 

>(end  of  it) 


(frag  12- 


MODERN  DRUMMER 


33 


Drummers:  If  you  would  like  to  play  this  figure  you  may  do  so  in 
several  different  ways:  (1)  Play  the  actual  rhythm  on  a  single  drum 
or  pad,  hand  to  hand  and  with  mixed  sticking  (your  own).  (2)  Play 


the  rhythm/melody  around  a  drumkit,  simulating  as  best  as  pos¬ 
sible  the  melody  and  range  by  using  different  drums  and  playing 
techniques.  (3)  "Imply"  the  rhythm/melody  underneath  a  constant 
time  (ride)  figure. 


Example  B 


-jHhr*« — 1 

/L  t 

j %  v 

%  J  V 

r  J  ^ 

— ' 

ffs  " HI  m 

^ 

*  w 

^  »  J  I 

1  *7  *  # 

m  *  *  X  *7  m 

T 

1  1 

= m_ l  m  w  ^ 

1  7  1 

*  *  w  d  7 

d  d  m  m~  J 

Example  C 


i 


a 


P 


PP 


PP 


p  n  n  \n-  . 


i 


]  J  i  J  i 


j  J-J  1 


B 


34 


MODERN  DRUMMER 


£  Style  And  Concept  by  Chad  Wackerman  \ 


Many  drummers  have  asked  me  how  one  creates  a  style. 
That's  a  very  difficult  question  to  answer.  Most  of  the 
time,  style  seems  to  be  a  natural  occurrence  caused  by  the  type  of 
music  you  have  listened  to,  the  type  of  things  you  dislike,  and  the 
attitude  and  personality  you  put  into  your  playing.  With  many 
musicians  it  is  not  anything  that  is  preconceived:  They  simply  play 
what  they  like  to  hear. 

One  truly  great  thing  about  playing  music  is  that  it  changes  all 
the  time,  and  everyone  makes  it  sound  different.  You  can  hearten 
different  drummers  play  the  same  pattern,  and  no  two  will  sound 
exactly  the  same,  no  matter  how  simple  the  pattern.  Like  any  art 
form,  what  we  consider  to  be  "good"  is  a  very  personal  thing. 
What  I  might  consider  to  be  a  brilliant  performance  you  might 
consider  worthless.  I,  however,  prefer  that  attitude  to  that  of  some 
sports,  where  whoever  is  fastest  is  best. 

Since  in  music  faster  doesn't  necessarily  mean  better,  we  listen 
to  other  things  musicians  play  to  decide  what  we  like.  It  is  their 
style  that  separates  them.  Some  people  have  extremely  distinctive 
styles.  You  know  immediately  who  is  playing  without  having  to 
see  them. 

What  makes  them  sound  so  distinctive?  Some  people  relate  it  to 
the  type  of  instrument  and  tuning  they  use  (Tony  Williams'  ride 
cymbal,  Stewart  Copeland's  snare  drum,  etc.).  That's  not  it,  though. 
A  friend  of  mine  who  is  a  great  guitarist  came  to  an  Allan 
Holdsworth  rehearsal,  and  Allan  let  him  play  his  guitar  through  his 
rig.  Not  only  did  the  notes  sound  different,  but  it  sounded  as  if  all 
of  the  equipment  had  changed  as  well! 

So  it's  obviously  something  besides  equipment;  it's  what  you 
play  and  what  you  don't  play,  the  way  you  use  your  technique,  the 
way  you  strike  a  cymbal  or  drum,  where  you  place  each  beat,  the 
balance  between  feet  and  hands — most  of  all,  though,  I  believe  it's 
your  concept. 

Your  technique  is  your  musical  vocabulary.  You  need  technique 
to  be  able  to  play  anything  you  can  think  of  musically.  If  you  have 
all  of  these  creative  ideas  in  your  head,  but  you  can't  execute 
them,  they  won't  do  you  any  good.  There  is  no  replacement  for 
long  hard  hours  on  the  practice  pad  or  set. 

If  you're  at  the  point  in  your  playing  where  you  can  play  at  least 
most  of  the  things  you  can  think  up,  then  the  problem  shifts  to 
what  to  play  and  where  to  play  it.  Now  it  is  time  to  start  thinking 
more  conceptually  than  technically. 

One  of  the  most  obvious  ways  to  distinguish  between  drummers 
is  the  way  they  play  fills.  When  I  play  with  a  band,  I  never 
consciously  play  a  practiced  fill.  The  reason  I  don't  is  because  by 
the  time  I  get  to  that  fill,  someone  else  in  the  band  might  have 
played  something  just  before  it  that  will  have  made  my  fill  inap¬ 
propriate.  Worse,  it  will  simply  sound  practiced. 

So  where  do  I  get  ideas  for  fills  or  solos?  I  often  get  them  from 
the  piece  of  music  that  I'm  playing,  an  idea  may  come  from 
something  another  musician  is  playing,  or  I  may  invent  a  phrase 
that  will  fit  into  the  style  of  the  music.  Now,  if  you  decide  to  try  to 
play  off  some  of  the  other  band  members,  remember  to  use  taste. 
There  is  nothing  more  destructive  and  upsetting  to  a  soloist  than 
another  musician  bashing  out  every  little  rhythmical  phrase  that 
he  or  she  can  recognize.  If  I  hear  a  rhythmical  phrase  played  by 
somebody  in  the  band,  I  will  often  recognize  it,  but  not  play  it  in 
unison  with  them.  Rather,  I  will  play  a  counterpart  to  it,  play  some 
of  the  accents  of  their  phrase  (not  all  of  them),  or  play  some  type  of 
answer  to  it. 

In  this  month's  Sound  Supplement,  you  will  hear  a  piece  by  Ed 
Mann  from  his  album,  Get  Up.  I  decided  to  approach  this  piece 
with  a  basic  groove,  but  also  play  random  fills  that  relate  to  the 
piece  itself.  Notice  that  the  melody  is  very  rhythmic,  with  mostly 
16th-note  subdivisions.  Also  note  that  there  is  lots  of  space  where 
the  band  is  playing  a  groove  in  between  the  melody  passages.  I 
tried  to  play  fills  that  were  related  to  the  types  of  melodic  rhythms 


that  Ed  was  playing.  In  this 
type  of  playing  situation, 
you  may  also  try  to  play 
some  of  the  actual  rhythms 
of  the  melody,  but  try  to 
think  of  them  as  short  syn¬ 
copations  that  can  be 
shifted  to  start  on  any  beat. 

Displacing  a  short,  recog¬ 
nizable  rhythm  a  16th  note 
or  8th  note  forward  or  back¬ 
ward  from  where  it  was 
originally  heard  can  create 
some  interesting  fills.  Also, 
you  can  play  part  of  a  mel¬ 
ody  or  bass  line  in  a  fill, 
actually  "quoting"  some¬ 
thing  heard  earlier  in  the 
piece. 

With  all  these  ways  to 
play  fills  that  will  relate  to 
the  music  you're  playing,  you  can  now  think  about  the  way  you're 
going  to  orchestrate  your  fill.  What  I  mean  when  I  say  "orches¬ 
trate"  is  to  arrange  the  voices  of  the  drumkit  into  long  sounds, 
short  sounds,  and  high-  to  low-pitched  sounds.  You  can  then  play 
phrases  accordingly,  as  a  trumpet  or  guitar  player  might.  Fast  runs 
(a  dense  flurry  of  notes)  speak  better  on  instruments  with  short 
sounds  such  as  snare  drums,  bass  drums,  timbales,  and  small, 
quickly  decaying  cymbals.  Sustained  sounds — larger  cymbals  or 
open,  long  decaying  toms — are  better  for  playing  notes  of  longer 
durations.  A  melodic  instrument  plays  shorter-duration  notes  on  a 
fast  run,  and  longer,  more  legato  notes  for  larger  note  values. 

Don't  only  play  things  that  you  get  from  other  drummers.  When 
you  practice,  you  can  work  on  duplicating  patterns  from  piano 
players,  guitarists,  and  other  instrumentalists.  It  is  a  very  simple 
and  easy  concept,  but  you  may  find  that  categorizing  all  of  the 
instruments  in  your  drumset  according  to  their  timbres  will  help 
you  come  up  with  some  very  different  fills. 

When  I  played  "This  Is  Tomorrow,"  I  combined  four  different 
concepts: 

1.  Groove  playing 

2.  Linear  drumming 

3.  Playing  as  a  drummer  and  percussionist  at  the  same  time 

4.  Call  and  response  playing 

The  first  concept  is  very  obvious:  Play  the 

groove,  beat,  or  pattern  that  will  make  the 
piece  feel  good.  This  sets  up  the  mood  of  the 
piece.  In  some  instances,  this  is  all  that  is 
necessary.  In  this  tune,  I  played  this  funk 
groove: 


MUSIC  KEY 


Cup 

Clvme 


T  T 
SO 

T  T 
B.D 

TcitlE 


n  , 

Ft  4  - 

n  n  n  , 

1  M  •  1 

tf..  4 •  ■ 

3™  rh J 

The  second  concept,  linear  drumming,  is  where  most  of  the  fills 
come  in.  Often  I  don't  keep  my  feet  playing  an  ostinato  pattern 
and  play  a  fill  with  my  hands  over  it.  Instead,  I  choose  to  incorpo¬ 
rate  my  feet  into  the  "line"  that  I  play.  When  playing  in  a  linear 
fashion,  no  two  limbs  hit  together  on  the  same  count: 


MODERN  DRUMMER 


cciftf murc/  on  next 

35 


Photo  by  Rick  Malkin 


Playing  as  a  drummer  and  percussionist,  I  will  utilize  percussion 
instruments  or  samples  that  are  not  drum-type  sounds.  The  type  of 
things  I  play  will  sound  more  like  an  overdubbed  percussion  part, 
in  contrast  to  the  linear  concept.  On  this  piece,  I  used  two  Paiste 
cup  chimes,  a  low-pitched  electronic  bass  drum  sample,  and  a 
gunshot  sample.  The  following  is  the  type  of  rhythm  I  played  on 
the  cup  chimes  over  the  groove  pattern  on  "This  Is  Tomorrow": 


t  i  Jil  i  J"3  ?  JT.  j  j  i 


2 

s 

_ 

i —  n 

j*  *  T  / 

~r  j  * 

[j  s  -r-  •- 

_ _ _ _ _  11 

The  call-and-response  concept  deals  with  the  idea  of  taking 
something  already  stated  in  the  music  and  playing  a  fill  that 
answers  back  to  it.  Just  as  you  can  have  a  conversation  with 
another  person,  you  can  have  the  same  type  of  situation  musically. 
You  can  spot  quite  a  few  examples  of  this  in  the  Sound  Supple¬ 
ment  where  I  spontaneously  played  short  fills  that  replied  to  some 
of  the  shorter  melodic  phrases  that  Ed  was  playing. 

Any  time  you  play  music  that  has  "open  spaces"  or  "open 
sections"  to  it,  there  is  room  for  interpretation.  No  two  drummers 
will  sound  alike  playing  a  piece  like  this.  Each  has  his  own 


concept,  his  own  personality,  and  his  own  attitude  that  he  puts 
into  the  music.  I  find  that  most  concepts  are  comprised  of  a  list  of 
things  not  to  play.  If  you  know  what  not  to  play,  you  must  then 
create  something  to  replace  what  you  would  have  done.  I  men¬ 
tioned  four  basic  concepts  that  I  applied  to  this  piece,  but  it  would 
have  sounded  different  if  I  had  changed  the  percentages  of  each 
concept. 

There  are  times  when  you  only  want  one  concept  to  prevail. 
There  are  an  endless  number  of  unexplored  concepts  to  confront 
and  an  infinite  amount  of  music  that  has  yet  to  be  uncovered.  Next 
time  you  find  yourself  playing  the  same  old  licks,  try  to  give 
yourself  a  new  set  of  rules,  and  make  some  new  statements  in  your 
drumming! 


Credits:  'This  Is  Tomorrow" 

Written  by  Ed  Mann. 

Big  Accumulator — ASCAP/Contemp  Music — GEMA. 
Produced  by  Ed  Mann,  Kurt  Renker,  and  Walter  Quintus. 
Recorded  by  Walter  Quintus  at  Ztudio  Zerkall  in  West 
Germany. 

(P)  and  (C)  1988  CMP  Records.  Digital  recording. 

Musicians: 

Ed  Mann:  marimba,  vibes,  orchestra  bells,  electronic  mallets 
with  MIDI  samplers  and  synthesizers,  gongs. 

Chad  Wackerman:  drums,  cymbals,  and 
sampled  percussion. 

Doug  Lunn:  electric  bass. 

Mike  Hoffman:  electric  guitar. 

Walt  Fowler:  trumpet  and  flugelhorn. 

Bruce  Fowler:  trombone. 


{Iruimi 


No  matter 
what  styled? 
of  music  yod 
play,  you’ll  \ 
sound  better 
on  a  set  of  * 
DW  Drums. 


f>rum  Workshop,  Inc 7 2697  Lavery  0  ,  Unit  J f>/ Ntvyliu ry  Par k ,  C A  91; 


-if 

yr 

*  Aik.  ■ 

Tl  M  m 

Mill 

•  ijgjp ifepetiderit)  ™ 

(Studio) 

I  had  Wackerman  -  the  dynamic 
and  innovative  drummer  behind 
Frank  Zappa.  Chad's  choice  In 
!  drum  sticks  -  Vic  Firth  5B. 

i#nr 

Vic  Firth,  Inc. 
323  Whiting  Ave.,  Unit  8 
Dedham,  MA  02026 


36 


MODERN  DRUMMER 


pAjSTe 

l>YlttUN  Ml!  NI>S  ( iOSlfN 


IAN  PAIGE 

"They  are  like  a  whole  new 
generation  ol  cymbals  -  (or  every 
generation  ol  players.  There  is  one 
cymbal  for  every  style  of  music  r 

RICKY  LAWSON 

"They  sound  wonderful,  really. These 
cymbals  feel  very  natural  and  they 
speak  immediately" 

FREDY STUDER 

“Making  ihese  cymbals  is  like 
making  music,  it's  art  Wild  these 
sounds.  Paisle  jumped  above  its 
own  shadow  into  a  complete  new 
cymbal  world: 

PIERRE  FAVRE 

"These  cymbal  sounds  will  inspire 
drummers  to  lune  Iheir  instruments 
accordingly. The  sound  of  m  drums 
has  lo  be  richer  to  complement 
the  cymbals  " 

TERRY  BOZZIQ 

"I've  never  heard  anything  like  this’ 
These  sounds  are  hypnotic, 
it's  a  tug  mystery." 

STEVE  JORDAN 

"!  am  impressed  by  the  dynamic 
range.  I  can  play  soft  and  bring  out 
the  actual  beauty  of  the  cymbal  \  can 
play  loud  and  ii  does  not  sound 
harsh  but  just  like  a  big  wait  of 
sound  Usually  you  can  not 
get  both  out  of  a  cymbal" 


ED  MANN 

“These  cymbafs  respond  quickly 
and  evenly  over  a  wide  range. 
Because  the  harmonics  are  so 
clear.it  is  possible  for  the 
diummenpercussrcnislto 
create  hew  extremes 
in  sound  and  color: 

RONALD  SHANNON  JACKSON 

it's  like  when  they  went  from  black  & 
white  to  technicolor.  These  cymbal 
sounds  generate  the  same  step." 

JON  HISEMAN 

"Maivetous!  Very  musical 
sounding  cy  mbals  with  a 
beautiful  transparency* 

DANNY  GOTTLIEB 

"Congratulations!  trs  got  to  be  (he 
fullest  range  of  sound  I've  ever 
heard.  Now  there's  an  even  wider  set 
of  Iona  I  colors  to  choose  from  “ 

SHEILA  E. 

"Crispy,  crispy,  crispy  They're  like 
nghi  therein  your  lace,  and  Ido  n'l 
have  to  play  them  so  hard" 

STEWART  COPELAND 

"These  cymbals  speak  very  quickly, 
with  power  and  Ihey  have  dignity" 


LARRY  MULLEN  JR. 

The  new  cymbals  give  more 
response  and  have  more  attack  than 
anything  i  ve  played  before' 

BILLY  HIGGINS 

“Right,  right,  rightl  Great  jazz 
cymbals!  1  don' I  have  to  pul  rivets  in 
these,  they're  already  in  there" 

MARK  HERNDON 

"You  know  how  it  leeis  when  you 
jus!  get  out  of  the  shower  and 
you're  nice  and  clean  and  fresh? 
That's  how  i  feet  about  these 
n  m  cymbals.  Brilliant!" 

AL  FOSTER 

“You  feel  tike  playing  wilh  these 
cymbals.Ttiey've  go!  fantastic 
stick  rebound.  They  |ust  swing 
by  themselves." 

BILL  BRUFORD 

"Amazing  instruments. They  are 
like  an  orchestra.  Very  lovely: 

DAVID  GARIBALDI 

"Excellent!  Outstanding  cymbal 
sounds.  Oelinilely  more  volume, 
moredeiinilion,  a  wider  dynamic 
range,  the  low  end  is  a 
remarkable  improvement. 

They  just  sound  bigger 


ALEX  VAN  HALEN 

"I've  wailed  forafongtime  for 
a  cymbal  like  this" 

JEFF  P0RCARQ 

‘  Unbelievable!  Gorgeous!  It's  goi 
everything.  This  is  Ihe  biggest 
cymbal  innovation  I've  heard  of  in  my 
lifetime.  Its  a  cymbal  revolution, 

CHADWACKERMAN 

“These  cymbals  speak  immediately, 
and  have  a  brilliant  Shimmer  at  Ihe 
very  top  end  ol  the  sound.  I  have 
never  heard  such  beautifully  rich 
sounding  cymbals  before: 

NICKQ  McBRAIN 

“Really  serious  cymbals.  They've 
got  power,  volume  and  real 
precision  and  they've  got  l  hat 
magic  It'sawinnerr 

LEON  MDUGU  CHANDLER 

‘This  is  the  first  cymbal  that  has 
a  wide  dynamic  range  without 
being  over  powering.  Theycu! 
through  in  all  dynamic  situations 
with  the  same  clarity  In  the 
studio,  they  are  fantastic." 

JIM  KELTNER 

"They  (eel  like  pretty  old 
cymbals.  They  feel  like  (hey  have 
already  been  broken  in  - 
a  beautiful,  mellow,  crystal  kind  of 
sound,  smooth  and  thin 


For  a  copy  Of  our  new  brochure,  write  to  us  at  Paisle  America.  460  Attas  Street,  Brea,  CA  92621 


PRODUCT  CLOSE-UP 

The  Black  Max  Pedal 


The  Black  Max  pedal,  from  XL  Specialty 
Percussion  Products,  bills  itself  as  "The 
World's  Only  Twin  Eccentric  Pedal."  This 
could  be  a  double-edged  claim.  Does  it 
mean  the  pedal  has  two  offset  something- 
or-others,  or  that  it's  twice  as  strange  as  any 
other  pedal?  It  does  have  more  nuts,  bolts, 
set  screws,  springs,  slots,  and  other  me¬ 
chanical  fittings  than  anything  this  side  of 
your  old  Erector  set.  So  it  might  seem  a  bit 
daunting  upon  first  examination — some¬ 
thing  along  the  lines  of:  "Do  I  play  this 
thing  or  try  to  disarm  it?" 

Not  to  worry;  it  really  isn't  all  that  com¬ 
plicated.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  a  sheet  of 
instructions  provided  for  me  by  the  pedal's 
designer,  Luke  Jacobson,  starts  off  by  say¬ 
ing:  "Don't  be  afraid.  The  adjustments  of 
the  Black  Max  are,  for  the  most  part,  the 
same  as  those  of  conventional  pedals. 
However,  now,  for  the  first  time,  each  of 
these  adjustments  is  completely  independ¬ 
ent  [of  the  other]." 

And  just  what  kind  of  adjustments  are 
we  talking  about?  Would  you  believe  Beater 
Stroke  (the  amount  of  stroke  between  the 
beater's  point  of  rest  and  the  drumhead), 
Spring  Tension  (as  with  standard  pedals), 
Spring  Timing  (when  the  concentrated 
spring  tension  happens  within  the  stroke), 
Footplate  Position  (where  the  contoured 
footplate  sits  atop  the  drive  plate  for  maxi¬ 
mum  foot  comfort  and  power),  Footplate 
Stroke  Length  (five  settings  that  adjust  how 
much  the  footplate  depresses  to  achieve 
each  stroke),  Footplate  Angle  at  Impact 
(which  is  just  what  it  sounds  like),  and  a 
nifty  additional  feature  called  the  Acoustic 
Simulator  (which  I'll  get  into  more  later). 
Add  to  these  the  variables  of  beater  type 
and  beater  height,  and  you  have  a  pedal 
that  can  achieve  almost  any  conceivable 
combination  of  actions  for  "that  personal¬ 
ized  feel."  The  intent  of  both  Luke  Jacob¬ 
son  and  XL's  Neal  Graham  was  to  create  a 
pedal  that  could  be  absolutely  all  things  to 
all  people — no  small  task,  considering  that 


a  bass  drum  pedal  is  perhaps 
the  single  most  personal  piece 
of  hardware  on  any  drummer's 
kit,  and  no  two  drummers  are 
ever  happy  with  the  same  one. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  this  re¬ 
view  turned  out  to  be  an  educa¬ 
tion  in  pedal  design  for  me, 
since  I  wound  up  reviewing  a 
"work  in  progress."  No  fewer 
than  three  versions  were  sent  to 
me  during  the  review  process, 
with  various  changes  and  im¬ 
provements  made  to  each  one. 

By  way  of  description,  I'd 
have  to  say  that  the  Black  Max 
is  a  big  pedal,  at  a  time  when 
smaller,  lighter  pedals  are  more  in  vogue. 
But  it  has  to  be  big  to  incorporate  all  of  its 
mechanical  features.  The  heelpiece  of  the 
pedal  is  actually  a  part  of  the  molded  steel 
baseplate,  to  which  the  yoke  of  the  pedal  is 
attached.  (As  a  result,  the  pedal  cannot 
fold  up  in  any  way,  making  it  a  bit  cumber¬ 
some  to  pack  up  or  carry.)  The  tension 
spring  is  adjustable  from  above,  which  is 
convenient,  but  the  hoop  clamp  is  tight¬ 
ened  by  a  thumbscrew  at  the  outside  lower 
right  of  the  yoke.  It's  more  convenient  than 
one  under  the  footboard,  but  you  still  have 
to  get  down  pretty  low  to  reach  it.  Other 
than  those  two  adjustments,  all  of  the  other 
adjustments  on  the  Black  Max  must  be 
made  either  sitting  on  the  floor  (if  the  pedal 
is  in  place)  or  by  removing  the  pedal  from 
the  drum  entirely.  This  can  be  a  bit  tedious 
during  the  initial  fine-tuning  process,  but 
adjusting  the  Black  Max  is  something  like 
setting  up  a  rack  system  for  the  first  time:  It 
takes  forever  to  get  it  right,  but  once  you 
do,  it's  that  way  for  good.  An  Allen  wrench 
is  supplied  with  the  pedal;  you'll  also  need 
a  small  slotted  screwdriver  and  a  small  cres¬ 
cent  wrench  to  complete  all  your  adjust¬ 
ments. 

The  footplate  is  a  contoured  and  grooved 
piece  of  high-impact  plastic  that  can  slide 
backwards  and  forwards  on  the  steel  plate 
that  actually  drives  the  pedal.  This  particu¬ 
lar  adjustment  is  for  comfort  only;  it  has  no 
real  effect  on  the  action  of  the  pedal  since 
the  steel  drive  plate  remains  the  same  length 
no  matter  where  the  footplate  is  adjusted.  I 
found  one  small  problem  with  the  footplate: 
Its  deep  grooves  and  non-slip  surface  tended 
to  grab  the  sole  of  my  shoe,  making  it 
difficult  to  play  double  strokes  with  a 
"glancing"  motion.  Not  everyone  plays  that 
way,  so  not  everyone  would  experience 
that  problem,  but  it's  worth  noting.  I'd  like 
to  see  XL  offer  a  smooth,  non-grooved  foot¬ 
board  as  an  option. 

I  made  a  little  dig  earlier  about  the  "Twin 
Eccentric"  name;  I  should  explain  that  what 


it  really  refers  to  is  the  heart  of  the  Black 
Max's  drive  action:  twin  eccentric  cams 
that  are  adjustable  in  their  relationship  to 
one  another.  Where  most  pedals  have  a 
spring  that  pulls  against  a  single  cam  (thus 
turning  the  pedal's  axle),  the  Black  Max's 
spring  attaches  to  a  drive  strap  wound 
around  two  cams  that  are  independently 
adjustable.  Depending  on  how  you  posi¬ 
tion  these  cams,  you  can  get  a  spring  pull 
that  would  tow  a  semi,  or  a  fairly  light 
spring  response  that  requires  only  a  gentle 
touch  to  swing  the  beater.  Add  to  this  the 
fact  that  you  can  adjust  where,  in  the 
beater's  stroke,  the  spring  tension  hits  maxi¬ 
mum,  and  you  see  that  the  Black  Max  could 
serve  a  rock  stamper  or  a  jazz  lightfoot 
equally  well. 

Luke's  introduction  mentioned  the  inde¬ 
pendence  of  the  Black  Max's  adjustments. 
That's  the  feature  of  the  pedal  that  most 
appealed  to  me.  I  hate  it  when  I  have  the 
beater  throw,  pedal  travel,  and  spring  ten¬ 
sion  just  perfect  on  my  current  pedal,  and 
then  a  strap  stretches  or  breaks.  Putting  on 
a  new  strap  changes  the  pedal  travel  and 
the  beater  throw,  so  I  have  to  change  the 
spring  tension  to  accommodate  them.  Con¬ 
sequently,  everything  is  uncomfortable  un¬ 
til  the  new  strap  stretches  to  a  certain  point 
and  my  foot  gets  used  to  the  pedal  all  over 
again.  With  the  Black  Max,  this  cannot 
happen.  First  of  all,  the  drive  strap  is  a 
fiber-reinforced  rubber  material,  somewhat 
similar  to  auto  fan  belts.  It's  not  as  likely  to 
break  as  leather  straps,  nor  as  likely  to 
stretch  as  woven  nylon — yet  it  doesn't  feel 
as  rigid  as  a  chain.  Second,  every  element  I 
discussed — beater  throw,  pedal  travel, 
spring  tension,  etc. — can  be  set  independ¬ 
ently  from  the  other.  This  means  that  you 
can  determine  how  far  your  beater  moves 
from  its  resting  point  to  the  drumhead  and 
how  far  the  pedal  depresses  in  order  to  get 
it  there;  that  isn't  determined  by  how  long 
your  drive  strap  is.  Pedal  angle  at  impact 
can  also  be  adjusted,  giving  just  the  right 
footboard  angle  for  maximum  comfort  and 
power. 

The  Acoustic  Simulator  is  a  device  that 
Luke  created  with  the  idea  of  the  pedal 
being  used  on  electronic  kick  drum  pads. 
Many  drummers  have  complained  that  play¬ 
ing  against  an  electronic  kick  is  very  much 
like  playing  against  a  brick  wall.  So  Luke 
fitted  the  Black  Max  with  a  spring-loaded 
feature  that  allows  the  beater  to  "flex"  upon 
impact.  This  gives  a  more  natural  feel  when 
playing  against  a  hard  surface,  and  pro¬ 
vides  an  added  benefit  when  playing  an 
acoustic  drum:  Since  the  beater  can  "flex," 
it  doesn't  come  to  a  dead  stop  against  the 
drumhead  (which  can  serve  to  choke  off 
the  head).  The  result  is  a  noticeable  in- 


38 


MODERN  DRUMMER 


crease  in  low  end  and  resonance  from  the 
bass  drum.  Drummers  who  like  to  "play 
into"  their  drumheads  and  so  wouldn't  want 
their  beaters  to  flex  could  simply  disengage 
the  Acoustic  Simulator;  they  would  still  have 
the  option  to  use  it  if  they  happened  to 
play  an  electronic  kick  drum.  And  for  those 
who  would  have  absolutely  no  use  for  such 
a  feature,  a  lower-priced  version  of  the  Black 
Max  is  available  without  it. 

Another  unique  feature  of  the  Black  Max 
is  its  Backcheck.  Originally,  this  was  a  non- 
adjustable  lobe  used  to  stop  the  motion  of 
the  driveshaft  (and  the  swingback  of  the 
beater)  upon  the  pedal's  return.  I  found 
that  this  device  stopped  the  return  of  the 
beater  in  such  an  abrupt  way  that  it  inter¬ 
fered  with  my  footwork  on  the  pedal.  Like 
most  drummers  (I  believe),  I  rely  on  the 
return  action  of  the  beater  to  put  the  foot¬ 
board  in  the  right  place  for  my  next  down- 
stroke.  The  timing  of  my  footwork  is  based 
on  this.  When  the  first  couple  of  Black  Max 
versions  didn't  return  in  the  manner  I  was 
familiar  with,  I  couldn't  get  any  quickness 
from  them;  they  seemed  slow  and  heavy  in 
their  action.  Luke  must  have  received  this 
same  response  from  several  other  drum¬ 
mers  from  whom  he  was  gathering  input, 
because  he  came  up  with  a  way  to  over¬ 
come  the  problem.  The  new  version  incor¬ 
porates  a  spring  (separate  from  the  pedal's 
drive  spring)  that  still  controls  the  return  of 
the  beater,  but  does  not  stop  it  abruptly. 
With  this  adaptation,  I  found  the  pedal 
much  more  natural  and  comfortable  to  play. 
It  may  be  that  the  earlier  version  was  more 
mechanically  efficient  in  theory,  but  some¬ 
times  a  designer  has  to  adapt  theory  to  suit 
the  idiosyncrasies  of  the  consumer.  The 
newer  version  of  the  Black  Max  has  done 
just  that,  and  it  now  feels  wonderful  to  use. 
(For  the  sake  of  clarification,  I  should  point 
out  that  our  photo  shows  one  of  the  earlier 
versions;  all  current  models  will  incorpo¬ 
rate  the  new  return  feature.) 

I  can't  say  that  the  Black  Max  is  the 
perfect  bass  drum  pedal;  there  are  just  too 
many  drummers  out  there  who  demand 
different  things  from  their  pedals  for  any 
one  product  to  be  perfect.  But  I  can  say 
that  the  Black  Max  is  the  most  versatile, 
adjustable,  and  user-friendly  pedal  I've 
come  across.  It's  a  bit  big  and  awkward  to 
carry,  and  it  will  exasperate  you  for  a  while 
until  you  master  the  subtleties  of  its  adjust¬ 
ments.  But  once  you've  gotten  everything 
tweaked  just  the  way  you  like  it,  I  think 
you'll  have  a  friend  for  life.  Owing  to  the 
last-minute  design  changes  I  mentioned, 
list  pricing  for  the  Black  Max  had  not  been 
established  as  we  went  to  press.  However, 
by  the  time  you  read  this,  the  pedal  should 
be  available  at  your  local  retail  drum  shop. 
In  the  meantime,  you  can  get  more  infor¬ 
mation  directly  from  XL  Specialty  Percus¬ 
sion,  P.O.  Box  8304,  Ft.  Wayne,  Indiana 
46898. 

— Rick  Van  Horn 


The  Vruk 


For  years,  I've  been  wondering  why  some¬ 
one  hasn't  developed  a  bass  drum  pedal 
you  can  play  with  your  heel  as  well  as  your 
toes.  (If  you're  like  me,  you've  probably 
noticed  that  you  can  do  certain  things  faster 
and  more  accurately  with  your  heel.)  Re¬ 
cently,  to  my  surprise,  I  came  across  a 
unique  new  invention  from  England  called 
the  Vruk  that  comes  very  close  to  that  con¬ 
cept. 

The  Vruk  is  an  add-on  heel  plate  that 
attaches  to  any  normal  bass  drum  pedal 
about  two-thirds  of  the  way  down  the 
footplate,  with  no  modification  needed.  A 
bent  steel  spring  underneath  this  heel  plate 
enables  the  player  to  depress  the  pedal 
with  a  heel  action,  thus  transferring  force 
towards  the  beater  and  striking  the  drum. 
Normal  playing  with  the  front  of  the  foot  is 
not  affected.  This  facilitates  a  heel-to-toe 
technique  that  makes  playing  doubles,  trip¬ 
lets,  or  merely  faster  bass  drum  patterns 
very  easy.  There  is  a  trade-off,  though,  in 
that  a  slight  adjustment  in  your  playing 
technique  might  be  necessary  to  employ 
the  heel-to-toe  method.  If  you  already  play 
in  this  manner,  the  Vruk  will  be  easier  to 
master. 

The  Vruk  was  invented  by  Vuk  Vukovic, 
a  31 -year-old  Yugoslavian  drummer  cur¬ 
rently  living  in  England.  At  the  age  of  16, 
Vuk  was  playing  Bulgarian  and  Macedonian 
folk  music  with  a  Yugoslavian  band  that  in¬ 
corporated  many  odd  time  signatures  into 
their  music.  Normally,  the  rhythmic  pat¬ 
terns  are  played  on  the  snare  drum,  but  he 
tried  to  split  them  between  bass  drum  and 
snare.  Some  parts  of  the  music  were  very 
fast,  and  it  was  not  possible  for  him  to  play 
the  pedal  that  quickly.  One  day — while 
watching  an  old  movie  with  Fred  Astaire 
doing  his  marvelous  tap-dancing — Vuk 
came  up  with  the  main  principle  of  the 
Vruk.  Lack  of  funds  put  the  idea  to  rest  for  a 
while,  but  later,  after  developing  various 
prototypes,  Vuk  found  a  partner  in  engi¬ 


neer  James  Reed.  The  first  finished  Vruk 
came  out  of  the  die  in  late  1988. 

Vuk  sent  me  one  of  his  models  to 
try,  along  with  a  demonstration  video 
of  himself  using  the  Vruk  in  a  drumkit 
application.  Vuk's  demo  was  on  a  twin- 
bass  kit,  with  Vruks  attached  to  both 
pedals.  The  result  was  accurate  double- 
stroke  rolls  on  the  two  bass  drums — a 
feat  that  could  never  be  accomplished 
in  the  normal  manner. 

A  bit  of  practicing  is  required  with 
the  Vruk  in  order  to  get  used  to  the 
minor  technique  change  needed.  Vuk 
told  me  that  to  get  to  the  level  demon¬ 
strated  on  the  video  took  him  five 
months.  Therefore,  the  possibilities  with 
the  Vruk  depend  solely  upon  the 
drummer's  initiative  to  work  with  it.  I've 
had  the  Vruk  with  me  for  a  few  months, 
and  am  beginning  to  get  it  down  with  only 
intermittent  practice.  From  watching  the 
video,  and  working  on  the  technique  my¬ 
self,  I've  found  that  the  Vruk  allows  double¬ 
bass-drum  effects  to  be  played  on  one  bass 
drum  quite  easily.  The  Vruk  is  not  a  short¬ 
cut  to  faster  playing,  but  rather  an  aid  to 
inducing  faster  patterns  with  less  strain.  (The 
Vruk  can  also  be  attached  to  a  hi-hat  pedal, 
and  will  work  in  the  same  manner  as  on  a 
bass  drum  pedal.) 

The  Vruk  has  patent  applications  in  sev¬ 
eral  countries,  and  is  currently  available  in 
English  drum  shops.  A  U.S.  distributor  is 
currently  being  sought.  The  unit  is  avail¬ 
able  in  aluminum  finish  or  in  black  at  retail 
prices  of  £40  and  £44,  respectively  (ap¬ 
proximately  $72  and  $79  U.S.).  All  told, 
the  Vruk  is  a  relatively  inexpensive  drum 
pedal  accessory  that  opens  up  a  wealth  of 
possibilities  for  drummers  to  create  new 
and  interesting  rhythmic  patterns  on  the 
drumkit.  Vuk  Vukovic  has  invented  a  to¬ 
tally  new  product,  and  I  hope  someone  in 
the  U.S.  picks  up  on  the  Vruk  to  unleash 
upon  American  drummers.  For  more  infor¬ 
mation,  contact  Vruk  International  Ltd.,  112 
Longhill  Road,  Catford,  London,  SE6  1UA, 
England. 

—Bob  Saydlowski,  Jr. 

continued  on 


SSrums  mi  SALE 

Says  It  All... 

GIGANTIC 

SAVINGS 

Get  on  Mailing  List 
748  Robinwood  Drive  (College  Plaza) 
Hagerstown,  MD  21740-6509 

1-301 -733-DRUM  (3786) 


MODERN  DRUMMER 


The  Upbeat 


Pedal 


This  particular  review  is  a  little  out  of  the 
ordinary  for  this  department,  since  the  sub¬ 
ject  is  not  yet  a  commercially  available 
product.  But  since  we  have  another  device 
designed  to  achieve  the  same  results — and 
yet  totally  different  in  concept — reviewed 
elsewhere  in  this  issue,  it  seemed  appropri¬ 
ate  to  include  the  Upbeat  pedal  at  this 
time. 

Designed  by  an  inventor  who  goes  by 
the  name  of  Jib,  the  Upbeat  pedal  is  a  fairly 
conventional-looking  bass  drum  pedal  that 
has  been  adapted  to  create  a  beater  strike 
on  both  the  downstroke  and  the  upstroke 
as  well — hence  its  name.  The  essential 
operational  elements  of  the  pedal  that  make 
this  double-action  possible  are  a  double¬ 
spring,  double-pull  linkage  system  and 
footplate  attachments  for  securing  the  heel 
and  toe  to  the  pedal's  footboard. 

The  principle  of  the  Upbeat  pedal  is 
simple:  The  player  secures  his  or  her  foot 
to  the  footboard  using  the  over-th e-toe  toe 


DRUM 

TUNING 


send  $7.95  + 

$1 .00  shipping  &  handling  to: 
DRUMSTIX  PUBLISHING 
P.O.  BOX  92)6 

W I L  M  IMG  TON ,  DE  1 9809-99 1 6 


stop  and  the  adjustable  heel  stop,  and  then 
plays  the  pedal  with  a  flat-footed  style,  rock¬ 
ing  the  foot  at  the  ankle.  A  step  down  pro¬ 
duces  one  beat;  lifting  the  foot  back  up 
produces  a  second  beat. 

The  execution  of  this  principle  is  not 
quite  as  simple  as  it  sounds;  it  does  require 
that  the  player  have  complete  facility  with 
a  flat-footed  (or  more  familiarly,  "heel- 
down")  technique.  Also,  it  helps  to  have  a 
fairly  large  foot,  since  the  leverage  achieved 
by  a  longer  foot  makes  it  easier  to  get  a 
powerful  beat  on  the  upstroke.  Jib  has  made 
the  foot-locking  device  adjustable,  and  has 
also  provided  different  footboard-travel  set¬ 
tings  at  which  double  strokes  may  be 
achieved,  but  I  still  had  to  move  my  fairly 
small  foot  through  a  pretty  wide  up-and- 
down  arc  to  get  the  Upbeat  stroke.  I  nor¬ 
mally  play  both  heel-down  (at  low  vol¬ 
ume)  and  heel-up  (for  power),  but  I  still 
was  uncomfortable  at  first  with  the  ankle 
movement  this  pedal  required.  However, 
any  totally  new  device  requires  new  tech¬ 
niques  to  operate  it,  and  I'm  sure  that  with 
enough  time,  I  could  adapt  my  playing  style 
to  achieve  some  dramatic  results  with  this 
pedal. 

I  mentioned  the  varied  footboard  settings. 
By  simply  lifting  the  lower  end  of  the  foot¬ 
board  up  a  bit,  the  entire  footboard  can 
slide  in  or  out  of  four  slots.  Depending  on 
which  slot  is  chosen,  you  can  have  single¬ 
stroke  (downstroke)  action  only,  two  set¬ 
tings  at  which  singles  or  doubles  can  be 
played  (depending  on  how  far  up  you  lift 
your  foot),  and  one  setting  at  which  virtu¬ 
ally  only  double  strokes  can  be  played.  (At 
this  setting,  its  possible  to  play  pretty  re¬ 
spectable  single-stroke  rolls  on  the  bass 
drum.) 

Jib  has  included  an  interesting  option  in 
the  design  of  his  pedal.  Rather  than  have 
one  beater  holder,  the  Upbeat  pedal  is  fit¬ 
ted  with  two,  and  they  are  slightly  offset. 


By  using  two  beaters  at  the  same  time,  it  is 
possible  to  achieve  a  flam  effect  on  the 
bass  drum.  Whether  this  effect  is  desirable 
is  up  to  the  individual  player,  of  course.  I 
wouldn't  use  it  except  for  extremely  open, 
1-and-3  downbeat  patterns,  but  it  does 
produce  a  very  thick  bass  drum  sound  that 
might  work  well  in  those  situations. 

The  aspect  of  the  Upbeat  pedal  that  I 
have  the  most  problem  with  is  power.  Since 
the  linkage  is  sprung,  there  is  no  point  at 
which  the  beater  is  actually  held  against 
the  drumhead  by  direct  force — no  "dead 
stop  point,"  in  other  words.  I  found  that, 
even  with  practice,  I  was  unable  to  achieve 
the  kind  of  volume  and  power  on  a  totally 
acoustic  bass  drum  that  I  require.  How¬ 
ever,  power  would  probably  not  be  a  prob¬ 
lem  on  a  drum  that  was  miked  up,  and 
certainly  wouldn't  on  any  electronic  kick 
drum  or  acoustic  bass  drum  fitted  with  elec¬ 
tronic  triggering.  Given  the  speed  that  this 
pedal  could  offer  when  mastered,  I  could 
easily  see  it  fitting  in  to  a  number  of  styles 
of  music  that  call  for  machine-gun  bass 
drum  patterns  using  electronic  sounds.  Rap 
music  immediately  comes  to  mind. 

As  I  said,  the  Upbeat  pedal  is  not  actu¬ 
ally  on  the  market  at  the  moment.  (As  a 
matter  of  fact,  our  photographs  are  of  Jib's 
hand-made  prototype.)  Jib  has  been  seek¬ 
ing  a  manufacturer  within  the  drum  indus¬ 
try  for  some  time.  His  design  is  radical,  so 
he  has  met — not  surprisingly — with  resis¬ 
tance  so  far.  But  his  concept  is  an  interest¬ 
ing  one,  and  in  light  of  other  recent  devel¬ 
opments  along  the  same  line,  might  merit 
closer  examination  by  a  forward-looking 
drum  or  hardware  company.  In  the  mean¬ 
time,  individuals  who  are  interested  in 
communicating  with  Jib  about  his  Upbeat 
pedal  design  can  reach  him  at  667  Osceola 
Avenue,  Winter  Park,  Florida  32789. 

—  Rick  Van  Horn 


40 


MODERN  DRUMMER 


HOW  I  MIC  DRUMS 

. . .  DAVID  MORGAN 

TOURING  HOUSE 
SOUND  ENGINEER  FOR 
WHITNEY  HOUSTON 
AND  PAUL  SIMON. 


Shot  on  location,  Whitney  Houston  Concert,  Madison  Square  Garden,  New  York. 


Tm  using  Shure'sSM98  more 
and  more  because  it  helps  me 
get  that  natural  drum  sound  and 
the  mic  adds  no  'color'  of  its  own. 
Its  small  size  doesn’t  obscure 
the  audience’s  view  of  the  drum¬ 
mer  and  means  the  mic  is  less 
likely  to  get  hit  by  drumsticks. 

‘‘I  prefer  the  warm  natural 
sound  you  get  with  condensers. 
That's  why  I  like  the  rich  lows 
and  low-mids  I  get  with  the  SM98 
on  tom-toms.  Plus  it’s  rugged 
enough  to  stand  up  to  road 
abuse. 

“To  get  the  fat  sound  I  want,  I 
position  the  mic  about  three  fin¬ 
gers  distance  off  the  drum  head 
and  aim  it  toward  the  center  to 
avoid  unwanted  rim  harmonics. 

"To  minimize  leakage  from 
adjacent  drums,  1  use  Shure's 
A98SPM  polar  modifiers  to  get 
the  isolation  a  supercardioid 
provides.  I’ve  found  that  combi¬ 
nation  works  great  overhead  on 
the  high  hat  as  well.  With  the 
pattern  control  the  modifiers 
provide,  it’s  like  having  two  mics 
in  one. 

"For  area  miking  of  percus¬ 
sion  instruments,  l  prefer  the 
SM81  because  of  its  extended 
flat  frequency  response.  And  the 
SM57  still  is  my  first  choice  on 
snare  and  guitar  amps.” 

If  you’re  looking  for  answers 
to  your  miking  problems,  start 
where  David  Morgan  does— 
with  Shu  re. 

Call  for  a  free  copy  of  Shure's 
full  line  Microphone/Circuitry 
Catalog.  Call  1-800-257-4873 
(In  Illinois  1-800-624-8522). 


ON  TOUR  WITH  SH  UR E 


E  1 

L 

E  C  T 

R  O  N  1 

1C  R  E  V  1  1 

E  W 

Different  Drummer 


Example  1 


6  File  Edit  Windows  Pattern  Jam  Song  Instruments 


6/8  Number  5 


o- 

n 

i  j  hrm® 

|fi  /  b| 

81 

82 

B 

i* 

3 

u 

B4 

85 

B6 

81 

s 

2 

fey 

A 

I 

Hat  Open 

KCl 

1 

/ 

r 

1 

(:;>)[  Hi  Hat  Closed 

ICE 

;l 

fir 

4 

r 

f1  , 

r1 

j ’1 

ih 

0 

t 

1 

(^S)j  Cabas* 

m 

n 

rr 

r 

I 

Ffi 

W 

f  Sr 

if 

f 

J 

r—i 

5 

Cymbal  Crash 

m 

I 

i 

i 

J 

(^►)j  Timbale 

m 

I 

i 

1 

i 

; 

El 

r“rr"' 

7 

(?:  |>)|  Cony*  High 

i(s 

fj 

r 

f 

|r 

r 

h 

!r 

s\ 

iri 

> 

Conga  Low 

Ktr 

i 

t 

i 

f 

i 

i 

Cymbal  Asian 

i 

i 

i 

i 

t 

@1  Snare 

□d 

l 

! 

n 

r 

r 

i 

T 

i 

issj 

& 

(^Kick 

ltd 

c  ^ 

JL 

tL 

i ; 

JL 

lL 

tL 

i 

L 

O 


During  the  past  few  months,  the  computer¬ 
ized  drummer  has  been  the  beneficiary  of 
a  bevy  of  new  programs.  One  of  these  is 
Different  Drummer  by  Prim  era  Software. 
Different  Drummer  is  written  for  the  Apple 
Macintosh  computer  and  is  a  program  that 
can  comfortably  wear  several  hats.  In  one 
disguise,  it  can  turn  your  Mac  into  a  drum 
machine.  Used  in  a  slightly  different  way,  it 
can  be  a  remote-control  programmer  or 
serve  as  a  pattern  and  song  librarian  for 
your  "real"  drum  machine. 

The  basic  concept  behind  a  program  like 
Different  Drummer  is  to  give  the  program¬ 
mer  (not  necessarily  a  drummer)  a  graphic 
interface  for  controlling  a  drum  machine. 
As  a  rule,  drum  machines  are  long  on  physi¬ 
cal  features  and  short  on  visual  aids.  When 
you  first  boot  Different  Drummer,  you  en¬ 
ter  the  "Pattern  Edit"  screen  as  shown  in 
Example  No.  1. 

The  pattern  edit  interface  is  closely  re¬ 
lated  to  the  well-known  MacPaint  program. 
On  the  left  side  of  the  screen  is  the  tool 
palette,  and  on  the  right  is  the  "canvas." 
The  method  of  "painting"  notes  on  the 
screen  is  very  simple  and  intuitive.  Simply 
click  on  a  note  value  on  the  left  side  of  the 
tool  pallet  (like  the  highlighted  16th  in  the 
example),  move  the  mouse  to  where  you 
want  that  note  to  be  played  (Conga  Low  on 
beat  6),  and  click.  Similar  to  the  "fat-bits" 
feature  in  MacPaint,  clicking  on  a  note  that 
is  already  on  the  screen  will  erase  it.  And, 
if  you  click  over  an  existing  note  with  a 
different  rhythmic  value,  the  new  value 
overwrites  the  old.  What  could  be  easier? 

There  are  also  additional  goodies  and 
options  that  can  be  used.  The  arrow  and 
the  hand  have  become  traditional  icons  in 
the  Macintosh  community  for  selecting  and 


grabbing.  In  Different  Drummer,  these  two 
icons  serve  the  same  purpose.  The  pro¬ 
grammer  can  select  a  note  or  group  of  notes 
with  the  arrow,  and  move  them  around  on 
the  screen  with  the  hand. 

Below  these  icons  are  the  note  values 
that  can  be  inserted  into  a  pattern.  At  first 
glance,  it  seems  that  any  value  from  whole 
notes  to  256th  notes  can  be  selected,  but 
Different  Drummer  offers  even  more  op¬ 
tions.  See  the  figures  of  the  quarter,  along 
with  grouping  of  three,  five,  and  seven  in 
the  palette?  These  are  used  in  conjunction 
with  the  note  values  to  let  the  programmer 
enter  everything  from  "normal"  notes,  to 
8th-note  triplets,  or  even  something  like 
128th-note  septuplets.  In  other  words,  the 
programmer  can  get  every  note  value  found 


on  a  real  drum  machine,  plus  a  few  more. 

At  the  top  of  the  palette  are  the  motion 
controls.  As  you  might  expect,  clicking  on 
the  arrow  will  start  the  pattern  playing,  , 
while  clicking  on  the  box  causes  the  pat¬ 
tern  to  stop.  The  circle  is  used  for  "real- 
time"  recording,  which  we'll  cover  in  a 
minute.  The  bottom  right  of  the  tool  palette 
presents  the  accent  levels.  Notice  that  the 
volume  choices  range  from  four  heavy  dots 
to  four  light  dots,  offering  a  total  range  of 
nine  levels. 

The  programming  window  next  to  the 
tool  palette  contains  an  abundant  amount 
of  information.  In  the  upper  left  is  a  tempo 
reading  that  can  be  adjusted  in  one-beat 
increments  from  one  beat  per  minute  to 
256  beats  per  minute.  Next  to  the  tempo 
indication  is  the  meter.  A  simple  command 
under  the  Pattern  menu  called  "Set  Time 
Signature"  presents  you  with  a  dialogue 
box  for  meter  selection.  Time  signatures 
can  be  selected  from  1 ,2,3,  4,  5,  6,  7,  or 
12  beats  over  single,  half,  quarter,  8th,  16th, 
or  32nd  notes. 

The  entire  right  side  of  this  window  is 
dedicated  to  the  pattern  grid.  Notice  the 
"Ml"  at  the  top  of  the  grid?  This  means  that 
you're  looking  at  the  first  measure  of  a 
multi-measure  pattern.  The  next  measure 
would  begin  after  the  vertical  line,  and  in 
order  to  move  the  remainder  of  the  pattern 
onto  the  screen,  the  programmer  would 
click  in  the  scroll  bar  at  the  bottom  of  the 
window. 

Below  the  measure  indications  are  the 
beat  markings.  Since  this  particular  pattern 
is  in  6/8  time,  there  are  six  beats  per  meas¬ 
ure.  Next  comes  the  programming  grid  it¬ 
self.  In  the  first  example,  the  grid  divides 


Example  2 


6  File  Edit  LUmdotns  Pattern  Jam  Song  Instruments 


Untitled-2  *  Jam 


Beats/Hin 


DU® 


6/8  Chorus  I  6/8  Chorus  2 


j^j  m 


JJ3J 


6/8  Ending  I 


m 


jjij 


im 


6/8  Ending  2  6/8  Number  16/8  Number  26/8  Number  3 


J/3J 


JflJ 


6/8  Number  46/8  Number  5 


m. 


<> 

jm 


42 


MODERN  DRUMMER 


by  Norman  Weinberg 


Example  3 


6  File  Fdtf  Windows  Pnttorn  Jam  Song  instruments 


each  beat  into  two  equal  parts,  because  a 
1 6th  note  is  selected  as  the  tool.  Whenever 
a  new  note  value  is  selected  from  the  tool 
palette,  the  screen's  grid  changes  to  ac¬ 
commodate  the  new  note  value.  Commands 
for  zooming  in  and  zooming  out  ensure 
that  you  see  as  little  or  as  much  of  the  grid 
as  you  want. 

Using  this  type  of  a  grid,  it's  very  easy  to 
see  that  the  Hi-Hat  Open  is  going  to  play  a 
1 6th  note  on  the  second  half  of  beats  4  and 
6.  In  addition,  a  quick  glance  at  the  type  of 
dot  next  to  the  note  will  tell  you  which 
notes  were  entered  with  no  change  in  dy¬ 
namics  (the  Conga  High  track),  softer  dy¬ 
namics  (the  Cabasa  track),  and  stronger 
dynamics  (the  Snare  track). 

Some  drum  machines  have  the  option  of 
changing  instruments  after  the  attack  points 
have  already  been  programmed  into  the 
pattern.  Manufacturers  call  this  feature 
"Swap  Sounds"  or  "Voice  Assign."  In  Dif¬ 
ferent  Drummer,  clicking  on  an  instrument's 
name  brings  up  a  menu  of  all  the  sounds 
that  are  available  in  the  program.  Perhaps 
you  would  like  to  hear  the  pattern  in  Ex¬ 
ample  No.  1  with  a  cowbell  sound  instead 
of  the  Cabasa.  No  problem:  Calling  up  the 
cowbell  is  just  a  mouse  click  and  a  drag 
away.  Once  you  get  a  configuration  of  in¬ 
struments  that  you  like,  you  can  save  them. 

But  wait  a  second!  Where  are  these 
sounds  coming  from  and  what  is  playing 
them?  Remember  that  one  of  the  Different 
Drummer's  hats  is  a  full-featured  drum 
machine.  Included  on  the  Different  Drum¬ 
mer  disk  are  almost  50  different  digital 
samples  that  can  be  played  by  the  digital 
processors  inside  the  Macintosh.  But  that's 
not  all!  Not  only  does  the  program  come 
with  all  those  samples  already  on  the  disk, 
it  has  the  ability  to  read  digital  sound  files 
created  by  Sound  Designer,  Soundcap,  and 
SoundEdit.  If  you  own  any  of  these  sample¬ 
editing  programs,  it's  nice  to  know  that  the 
fruits  of  your  labors  can  be  incorporated 


into  Different  Drummer! 

There  are  a  couple  of  basic  limitations 
involved  with  using  the  Mac  as  a  drum 
machine.  First  is  the  sound  quality.  The 
computer's  digital-to-analog  circuits  use  8- 
bit  linear  sampling.  If  your  ears  are  accus¬ 
tomed  to  the  industry's  current  16-bit  high- 
end,  these  samples  are  going  to  sound 
grainy  or  noisy,  and  will  lack  the  crystal- 
clear  highs  that  16-bits  can  offer. 

The  second  limitation  is  the  Mac's  four- 
voice  sound  generator.  This  means  that  you 
can  have  any  ten  instruments  on  the  screen 
for  a  pattern,  but  only  four  can  sound  at 
once.  Trying  to  get  five  sounds  simply  won't 
work.  At  times,  a  long  sample's  decay  will 
be  cut  off  by  another  instrument's  attack. 
Oh  yes,  the  tiny  speaker  inside  the  Mac 
isn't  state-of-the-art,  so  connecting  the  Mac 
to  an  external  speaker  will  improve  the 
sound  considerably.  Keep  in  mind  that  these 
shortcomings  are  not  caused  by  Different 
Drummer.  No  programmer  can  get  around 


them  or  outsmart  them. 

Different  Drummer  has  a  couple  of  handy 
features  that  should  be  mentioned.  First  is 
the  ability  to  mute  any  instrument's  track 
by  simply  clicking  on  the  picture  of  the 
speaker  next  to  the  instrument's  name  (like 
the  Cabasa  in  the  first  example).  Second  is 
the  ability  to  record  your  patterns  in  a  "real¬ 
time"  mode. 

Notice  in  the  example  that  there  are 
numbers  next  to  the  instrument's  name  for 
each  track.  These  numbers  correspond  to 
the  numbers  on  the  top  of  the  Macintosh's 
keyboard.  In  other  words,  put  the  program 
into  record  mode  by  clicking  on  the  circle 
in  the  tool  palette,  and  then  tap  the  "5"  key 
to  trigger  the  sound  of  the  Timbale.  Bingo! 
The  sound  is  played,  the  attack  is  quan¬ 
tized  to  the  closest  value  selected  in  the 
tool  palette,  and  everything  is  entered  into 
the  pattern.  Obviously,  the  Mac's  keyboard 
isn't  velocity  sensitive,  but  accent  levels 
can  be  programmed  by  using  the  number 
keys  on  the  Mac's  numeric  keyboard. 

So,  you've  finally  got  the  pattern  to  sound 
just  right.  All  the  attacks  are  in  the  right 
place,  the  dynamics  are  perfect,  and  every¬ 
thing  is  looking  great.  What  do  you  do 
now?  Easy:  Give  the  pattern  a  name  and 
save  it  to  disk.  Normal  patterns  take  be¬ 
tween  2K  and  4K,  depending  on  their  den¬ 
sity  and  length.  On  a  standard  double-sided 
Mac  disk,  you've  got  room  for  several 
hundred  patterns. 

Perhaps  you've  noticed  that  the  first  ex¬ 
ample  contains  a  menu  called  "Jam."  A 
jam  is  something  that  is  unique  to  Different 
Drummer.  By  looking  at  Example  No.  2, 
you  can  see  that  the  jam  window  is  very 
simple.  There  is  a  stop  button  (using  the 


Example  4 


MODERN  DRUMMER 


43 


same  graphic  as  in  the  pattern  window),  a 
tempo  control,  and  an  open  window  wait¬ 
ing  to  be  filled  with  patterns. 

The  concept  behind  a  jam  is  to  add  a 
number  of  patterns  to  the  window  and  ex¬ 
periment  with  playing  the  patterns  in  differ¬ 
ent  orders.  To  create  a  new  jam,  you  sim¬ 
ply  tell  Different  Drummer  to  add  patterns 
into  the  empty  window.  Once  you  have  all 
the  patterns  you  want  on  the  screen,  start 
the  jam  by  clicking  on  one  of  the  patterns. 
Once  selected,  the  pattern  will  repeat  in  its 
entirety  until  the  stop  button  is  clicked  or 
another  pattern  is  selected.  Get  the  idea? 
You  can  just  click  on  different  patterns  to 
get  a  feel  for  how  they  work  together.  Nice, 
huh?  And  any  pattern  in  the  jam  can  be 
copied  so  that  you  can  make  slight  vari¬ 
ations  and  edits  to  the  pattern  without  leav¬ 
ing  the  jam  window  or  losing  the  original. 
In  addition,  jams  can  be  saved  to  disk. 

So  far,  we've  created  patterns  and  ex¬ 
perimented  with  their  order  in  the  jam  win¬ 
dow.  Now  it's  time  to  create  a  song.  The 
song  editor  is  where  this  program  and  its 
visual  interface  really  shine.  The  song  edi¬ 
tor  looks  much  like  the  jam  editor  with  a 
few  additional  buttons.  There  is  the  arrow¬ 
like  play  button,  a  selection  pointer  tool, 
and  a  looping  tool.  As  you  can  see  from 
Example  No.  3,  a  song  is  created  by  load¬ 
ing  patterns  into  the  window  and  adding 
any  necessary  loops. 

It's  a  simple  task  to  add  loops  of  any  size 
or  even  nested  loops  that  are  two  or  three 
levels  deep.  As  in  jams,  patterns  can  be 
copied  for  adjustments  while  in  the  song 
editor.  There  is  even  a  command  for  copy¬ 
ing  just  the  pattern's  icon,  without  making 
an  entirely  new  pattern  (and  using  up  more 
memory).  This  can  come  in  handy  when  a 
particular  pattern  is  used  in  several  sec¬ 
tions  of  a  song.  If  you  want  to  adjust  the 
order  of  a  pattern  on  the  screen,  just  select 
it,  and  use  the  mouse  to  drag  it  around  to  a 
different  location.  Additions  and  deletions 
are  even  easier  to  perform,  and,  once  you 
are  satisfied  with  the  result,  saving  the  mas¬ 
terpiece  to  disk  is  a  snap. 

By  now,  you  should  have  a  pretty  good 
handle  on  how  using  Different  Drummer 
can  turn  your  Macintosh  into  a  drum  ma¬ 
chine.  But,  if  you  already  own  a  "real" 
drum  machine,  can  you  still  use  Different 
Drummer?  You  bet! 

What  you  see  in  Example  No.  4  is  this 
program's  Instrument  Setup  Window.  By 
using  this  window,  you  can  give  a  name  to 
any  instrument,  decide  if  the  name  will  be 
visible  in  the  "pop-up"  menu  of  the  pattern 
editor,  assign  that  instrument  a  MIDI  note 
number,  and  designate  a  MIDI  channel. 
Bingo!  You've  made  the  MIDI  connection. 
Anything  you  program  on  the  computer's 
screen  will  be  played  by  your  drum  ma¬ 
chine  using  the  drum  machine's  samples, 
tunings,  stereo  outputs,  etc.  Different  Drum¬ 
mer  will  supply  the  note-on  and  -off  mes¬ 
sages,  changes  in  velocities,  and  tempo — 
in  essence,  using  your  drum  machine  as  an 
external  sound  generator  for  the  software. 
And  (get  this),  when  running  the  program 


in  this  way,  you're  no  longer  limited  to 
only  four  voices! 

Once  you've  arranged  all  your  instru¬ 
ment  names,  channels,  and  note  numbers, 
the  result  can  be  saved  as  a  "Setup"  that 
can  be  selected  from  the  Instruments  menu. 
The  program  comes  from  the  factory  with 
setups  for  the  Alesis  HR-16,  the  Roland 
TR505,  and  the  Yamaha  RX15.  In  other 
words,  changing  the  sounds  of  your  pat¬ 
terns  and  songs  can  be  as  simple  as  calling 
a  new  setup  from  the  menu.  Creating  a 
new  setup  takes  only  a  few  minutes,  and 
for  electronic  drummers  who  own  two  dif¬ 
ferent  drum  machines  (or  a  drum  machine 
and  a  multi-timbral  unit  like  the  Korg  Ml 
or  Roland  D-110),  you  can  see  how  easily 
patterns  can  be  "ported"  from  one  machine 
to  the  other. 

It's  also  possible  to  use  Different  Drum¬ 
mer  as  a  librarian  for  your  drum  machine 
by  creating  patterns  in  the  software  and 
then  recording  them  into  the  drum 
machine's  internal  memory  by  MIDI  mes¬ 
sages.  I  know  that  this  may  sound  a  bit 
klunky,  but  it  does  work,  and  for  many 
models  of  drum  machines,  it  would  serve 
as  the  only  current  solution  to  the  lack  of 
drum  machine  librarians  on  the  market. 

There  is  one  additional  feature  that  must 
be  mentioned.  Different  Drummer  can  cre¬ 
ate  a  standard  MIDI  file  from  any  pattern  or 
song.  This  means  that  you  can  create  the 
entire  drum  track  in  Different  Drummer, 
dump  it  out  to  a  MIDI  file,  and  open  that 
file  with  your  software  sequencer  (if  your 
sequencer  reads  MIDI  files). 

Different  Drummer  is  a  program  that  is 
going  to  save  a  lot  of  musicians  a  lot  of 
time.  Programming  a  drum  machine  in  such 
a  graphic  environment  is  a  welcome  change 
of  pace,  and  I  found  that  the  visual  pro¬ 
gramming  process  did  a  lot  to  stimulate  my 
creative  juices. 

There  are  a  few  things  that  I  would  like 
to  see  implemented  in  future  versions  of 
this  product.  The  programmer  should  be 
able  to  use  more  than  ten  instruments  per 
pattern.  At  least  32  instruments  at  once 
would  give  the  software  more  flexibility 
when  used  as  a  remote-control  program¬ 
mer.  But,  with  a  scrolling  window  avail¬ 
able,  why  have  any  limitation  on  the  num¬ 
ber  of  instruments  visible  at  one  time? 

If  Primera  wants  drummers  to  use  this 
program  in  place  of  their  own  drum  ma¬ 
chines,  then  programmable  tempo  changes 
in  the  song  editor  are  going  to  be  a  must.  At 
the  very  least,  Different  Drummer  should 
send  the  MIDI  system-common  messages 
of  Start,  Stop,  and  MIDI  clocks  for  timing 
accuracy.  Different  Drummer  should  also 
be  able  to  read  MIDI  messages  sent  from 
an  external  controller.  This  way,  existing 
patterns  already  in  a  hardware  drum  ma¬ 
chine  could  be  sent  to  Different  Drummer. 
These  last  two  suggestions  would  make  li¬ 
brarian-type  features  less  of  a  hassle.  Any 
other  complaints  (such  as  the  sound  qual¬ 
ity,  four-voice  limitation,  and  slow  screen 
refreshes)  are  really  the  fault  of  the  Macin¬ 
tosh  rather  than  the  program. 


If  you  currently  own  a  Macintosh  com¬ 
puter,  and  would  like  to  do  some  drum 
machine  programming,  then  getting  Differ¬ 
ent  Drummer  is  an  option  to  consider.  If 
you  own  a  Mac  along  with  a  drum  ma¬ 
chine  or  a  sound  generator  that  includes 
drum  samples,  then  Different  Drummer  is 
going  to  make  programming  much  more 
fun.  The  manual  is  well-written  and  easy  to 
understand,  the  sounds  included  with  the 
program  are  as  strong  as  can  be  expected 
considering  the  Mac's  D/A  circuits,  and  the 
visual  interface  is  well-presented. 

Buying  this  program  may  also  be  consid¬ 
ered  a  political  statement.  If  Primera  and 
Different  Drummer  are  supported  by  the 
drumming  public,  then  they  (along  with 
other  software  publishers)  will  continue  to 
upgrade  and  create  programs  that  are  de¬ 
signed  for  drummers  and  their  specific 
needs.  In  other  words,  if  the  market  is  there, 
then  the  products  will  be  forthcoming.  If 
the  software  community  notices  that  pro¬ 
grams  that  support  electronic  percussion 
are  financial  disasters,  then  drummers  are 
not  going  to  get  the  kind  of  software  sup¬ 
port  that  keyboard  players  are  already  tak¬ 
ing  for  granted.  Different  Drummer  is  avail¬ 
able  from  selected  retailers,  or  you  can 
contact  Primera  Software,  1411  209th  Ave¬ 
nue  N.E.,  Redmond,  Washington  98053, 
(206)  868-6360.  The  suggested  retail  price 
is  $99.95. 


A  New  General  Lo  n 1  of  Drmnst  i  cks 
for  d  New  General  ion  of  Drummers. 


promapfc 

Send  52  J'oi  new  color  catalog. 
10707  Craighead  Drive,  Houston. 
Texas  77025  -  713/060-2525 


44 


MODERN  DRUMMER 


Joey  Kramer 


iTlTTTrtTT 

r*5i 

ej  []  f  ■ 

TFlMu 

r  t"T"  j  iT 
\ii\A  >  ■ 

L  ■  1  f  1  1  I  1  1 

■  1  F  1 1  til  I 

iii 

1  [  4  >  Fd 

f  i  j  1 1* 

■  Ini  *  Til  t* 

TTJj 

£1 

r.:„  I;  » 

Wi 

-TW  . 

Hi* 

fcf 

mm 

' * 

ji 

k 

** 

i«#Wi 

V*  i 

* 

“ _ 11  l,  . 

ik  v. 

IF 

hb 

Mb 

■V 

•/ 

The  Only  Serious  Choice, 

ROCK  ’  N’  JAZZ  CLINIC 

by  Rod  Morgenstein 

Double  Strokes,  Triple  Strokes,  Accents,  And  More 


MUSIC  KEY 


Warming  up  on  a  drum  pad  before  sitting  down  at 
the  drumset  is  very  important  to  me.  It  loosens  me 
up,  relaxes  me,  and  helps  me  mentally  prepare  for 
performing.  The  warm-up  exercises  that  follow  are 
based  on  two  kinds  of  strokes:  double  strokes  and 
triple  strokes. 

The  placement  (or  displacement)  of  the  stroke 
on  the  beat,  along  with  strategically  placed  ac¬ 
cents,  make  these  exercises  quite  challenging.  The  benefit  of  these 
exercises  is  two-fold  in  that,  in  addition  to  loosening  you  up,  the 
awkward  placement  of  the  accents  and  strokes  will  help  strengthen 
your  overall  understanding  and  command  of  time.  I  strongly  sug¬ 
gest  counting  and/or  tapping  your  foot. 

Examples  1  through  4  consist  of  double  strokes  beginning  on 
the  beat. 

>>>>>>>> 


i 


i=i 


a 


RRLIRRLLRRLL  RRLL 
>  >  >>>>>> 


] 


RRL  L  RRLLRRLLRRLL 
>  >  >>>>>> 


RRL  L  RRLLRRLLRRLL 
>>>>>>>> 


jrom rr&m 


] 


RRL  LRRLL  RRL  LRRUL 
4  >>>>  >>>> 


J-i  J.J J  J  J  J  :|| 


RRLL  RRLLRRLLRRLL 

In  examples  5  through  8,  the  double  strokes  are  displaced  by  a 
16th  note.  That  is,  the  double  stroke  begins  on  the  "e"  of  the  beat. 


>  >  >  >  >  >  >  > 


g 


RLL  RRLLRRLLRRLL  R 
>  >  >  >  > _ >  >  > 


1 


RL  L  RRLLRRLLRRLLR 

y  >>>>>>>> 


RLL  RRLLRRLLRRLLR 
>>>>>>>> 


RLLRRLLRRLLRRLLR 


46 


8 


& 


^  ^  ^  ^ 


RLLRRLLRRLLRRLLR 


Examples  9,  10,  and  11  consist  of  triple  strokes  beginning  on  the 
beat. 

Q  >  >  >  > _ 


rrrlllrrrlll 


10 


1 1 

IS 


rrrlllrrrlll 
>  >  >  > 


rrrlllrrrlll 

In  examples  12,  13,  and  14,  the  triple  strokes  are  displaced  by 
an  8th  note. 


12 


i 


iS 


$ 


1  3 


rlllhrrlllrr 
>  >  >  > 


a 


rlllrrrlllrr 


1  4 


12 


3= 


*  » 


RLL  LRRRLLLRR 

Examples  15,  16,  and  17  have  the  triple  strokes  being  displaced 
by  two  8th  notes. 


RRL  L  L  RRRLLLR 


16 


a 


RRLLLRRRLLLR 


17 


RRLLLRR  RLLLR 

Deceptively  simple,  these  exercises  are  what  you  might  call 
musical  tongue  twisters.  As  part  of  my  warm-ups,  they  keep  me  on 
my  toes  while  at  the  same  time  loosening  me  up  and  mentally  m 
preparing  me  to  "tear  it  up"  on  the  drumset.  W 

MODERN  DRUMMER 


FiKT 

T*Ti 

rrTiT*TTr¥i 

nliT' 

YTkTTV 

1  T  1  J  iT « 

j  f.yf4  1 1  ]} 

f  tl 

ltj  1 

1 1  H  1  Jd 

iTl  M  »T  1  1 

1 1 1  i  1  *  7 1 1  * 

Jin 

Randy  Castillo 


CONCEPTS 

Frustration 


A  young  man  from  a  midwestern  city  wrote 
to  me  recently  and  said,  "As  much  as  I 
enjoy  your  articles  in  MD,  I  wish  they  were 
more  realistic.  In  the  town  I  live  in,  all  you 
have  to  do  to  get  the  best  gigs  is  kiss  ass 
and  do  cocaine  with  the  right  people.  Mean¬ 
while,  serious,  dedicated,  and  punctual 
drummers  are  not  working." 

I  wrote  back  to  this  young  man  and  listed 
a  number  of  great  drummers  I  know  well 
as  friends  who  are  not  into  drugs.  Famous 
drummers  come  in  all  types,  but  most  of 
the  successful  ones  are  career-oriented  and 
would  not  do  anything  that  would  endan¬ 
ger  what  they  have  worked  so  hard  to 
achieve.  I  also  suggested  that  if  the  music 
scene  in  the  town  that  he  lived  in  was  truly 
as  negative  as  he  described,  perhaps  he 
should  consider  relocating.  This  won't  nec¬ 
essarily  solve  all  of  the  problems,  but  some¬ 
times  a  fresh  and  new  environment  can  be 
like  a  new  start.  The  young  man  was  kind 
enough  to  respond  to  my  letter.  He  said 
that  if  all  the  drummers  I  had  named  were 
"straight,"  he  felt  as  though  he  was  in  pretty 
good  company.  He  just  wanted  to  find  other 


WANTED: 


DRUMMERS  WITH 
IDEAS  TO  SHARE! 

Some  of  the  best,  most  practical  tips  for 
drummers  often  come  from  typical 
working  players — drummers  just  like 
yourself.  To  help  pass  along  those  tips 
to  drummers  who  can  benefit  from 
them,  MD  wiM  soon  debut  a  brand- 
new  department  called  Drum  tine* 

If  you  have  a  quick,  proven  tip  that 
has  saved  you  time,  money,  or  effort, 
we  want  to  hear  from  you.  Items  can 
range  from  equipment  maintenance, 
repair,  or  design  lips,  to  valid  practice 
and  playing  ideas.  And  we'll  pay  you 
Si 5.00  for  your  winning  tip  if  its  pub¬ 
lished! 

We  ask  that  you  keep  your  Drum- 
Line  lip  to  1  50  words  maximum.  Pho- 
!os  or  drawings  are  fine,  but  they  can¬ 
not  be  returned.  Send  your  tip,  along 
with  your  name  and  address,  to  Drum- 
Line,  c/o  Modem  Drummer,  870  Pomp- 
I  o  n  A v  e  n  u  e ,  Ceda  r  C  rove ,  N  |  0 7 009 . 

Why  keep  your  unique  idea  to  your¬ 
self?  Share  it  with  thousands  of  drum¬ 
mers  around  the  world  through  MD's 
DrumLine — and  we'll  send  you  a  check 
as  a  Thank  You! 


serious  musicians  to  play  with. 

We  all  have  times  when  we  are  frus¬ 
trated  and  upset.  Sometimes  it  can  be  that 
you  are  working  a  lot  but  you  don’t  care 
for  the  music  you  are  playing  to  make  a 
living.  Studio  musicians  often  feel  this  way. 
The  smart  ones  do  outside  gigs  where  they 
can  really  play  (even  though  the  gigs  may 
pay  very  little)  so  that  they  can  keep  their 
feeling  and  interest  in  music  at  a  high  level. 
In  L.A.,  you  can  hear  various  members  of 
the  Tonight  Show  band,  for  example,  work¬ 
ing  clubs  for  the  opportunity  to  "stretch 
out"  and  really  play. 

The  opposite  of  this  problem  is  experi¬ 
enced  by  drummers  who  are  playing  the 
music  they  love,  with  musicians  they  re¬ 
spect  and  enjoy  working  with,  but  for  very 
little  money.  These  drummers  may  feel  very 
frustrated  because  the  music  they  love  to 
play  doesn't  pay  enough  money  to  buy 
necessities.  It  can  be  especially  frustrating 
when  you  see  other  drummers  getting 
ahead — at  least  for  the  moment — using  the 
methods  described  by  the  young  man  who 
wrote  me.  Note  that  I  said  "at  least  for  the 
moment."  I  started  playing  in  bands  when  I 
was  14.  I  have  seen  many  drummers  come 
and  go.  In  nearly  every  case,  when  a  drum¬ 
mer  developed  a  drinking  or  drug  prob¬ 
lem,  that  drummer's  career  either  never 
developed  or  was  short-lived. 

For  example,  I  have  a  very  close  friend 
who  developed  a  heroin  problem.  He  fi¬ 
nally  enrolled  himself  in  a  heavy-duty  drug 
program,  got  himself  straightened  out,  and 
has  been  playing  actively  for  many  years 
now.  His  younger  brother  was  not  so  lucky. 
He  died  from  a  drug  overdose.  He  was  also 
a  promising  young  drummer  who  thought 
drugs  would  get  him  somewhere  faster — 
and  they  did.  They  got  him  to  the  grave 
faster. 

Other  drummers — some  of  them  quite 
famous — have  gotten  off  drugs  after  devel¬ 
oping  serious  problems.  However,  in  most 
cases,  their  careers  were  damaged  in  one 
way  or  another.  The  same  is  true  of  alco¬ 
hol.  It  too  has  ruined  the  careers  of  a  num¬ 
ber  of  great  musicians.  Conversely,  look  at 
the  drummers  who  have  had  long  careers. 
They  have  maintained  a  healthy  lifestyle. 

The  music  business  is  the  "rejection" 
business.  There  are  more  drummers  than 
there  are  jobs  or  bands.  It  has  always  been 
this  way.  The  same  is  true  in  athletics.  Think 
of  how  many  high  school  and  college  foot¬ 
ball  teams  there  are  in  the  U.S.  However, 
there  are  only  26  professional  football 
teams.  Not  every  college  player  is  going  to 
make  it  to  the  pros.  You  just  have  to  keep 
plugging  away.  You  have  to  prepare  your¬ 


self  the  best  that  you  can.  Then,  if  you 
don't  make  it  big,  at  least  you  gave  it  your 
best  shot.  Remember,  the  odds  are  against 
you.  It  is  a  very  competitive  and  tough 
business. 

There  are  no  shortcuts!  A  very  wise 
woman  told  me  years  ago  that  "if  you  go 
up  like  a  rocket,  you  usually  come  down 
like  a  rocket."  Tremendous  early  success  is 
usually  difficult  to  maintain.  However,  if 
you  go  up  steadily,  at  a  reasonable  pace, 
you  have  a  better  chance  to  maintain  your 
success.  Remember,  it  is  not  important  how 
your  career  starts  out.  All  that  counts  is 
how  it  ends  up! 

Organize  your  own  band  and  rehearse 
two  nights  a  week.  Again,  many  studio 
musicians  play  in  rehearsal  bands,  just  to 
have  a  chance  to  play  music  they  enjoy. 
Organize  a  percussion  ensemble  with  any 
combination  of  interested  players.  Set  up 
four  drumsets  and  have  fun.  Experiment 
with  different  instruments  and  different 
sounds. 

One  good  rule  to  follow  when  thinking 
about  the  difficulties  and  frustrations  in  our 
business  is  "don't  worry  about  other  drum¬ 
mers."  Envy  gets  you  nowhere.  Worry  about 
what  you  can  do  to  improve  your  own 
career. 

As  I  mentioned,  relocating  is  a  valid  op¬ 
tion.  I  left  Kansas  for  New  York  City.  Unless 
you're  from  a  big  city,  you  usually  can't 
stay  in  your  home  town  and  make  it.  The 
exception  to  this  is  when  musicians  form  a 
group,  get  discovered,  and  have  a  string  of 
hit  records,  such  as  Bill  Berry  with  R.E.M. 
This  band  has  been  together  for  years.  The 
same  thing  happened  with  the  Beatles. 
However,  the  chances  are  still  tough  at 
best. 

Not  all  of  us  are  going  to  wind  up  at  the 
top  of  our  profession.  However,  this  does 
not  mean  that  drumming  and  music  can't 
still  be  a  big  part  of  our  lives.  Music,  unlike 
athletics,  can  be  a  joy  all  of  your  life.  Even 
when  you  are  too  old  to  play,  you  can 
listen  and  appreciate.  (Come  to  think  of  it, 
old  football  players  can  still  watch  Mon¬ 
day  Night  Football,  so  in  a  way,  perhaps  it 
is  the  same.) 

My  attitude  is,  number  one,  there  are  no 
shortcuts.  Number  two,  I  am  glad  to  be 
alive.  Number  three,  I  am  blessed  with  good 
health.  Number  four,  I  grew  up  and  live  in 
the  U.S.A.  (In  other  countries,  the  opportu¬ 
nities  are  far  fewer;  ask  anyone  who  has 
traveled.)  Number  five,  be  grateful  that  you 
can  pursue  what  you  love  to  do.  And,  last 
but  not  least,  remember  this:  No  one  said  it 
was  going  to  be  easy! 


48 


MODERN  DRUMMER 


MORE  OF  THE  WORLD’S  GREAT  DRUMMERS 
PLAY  ZILDJIANS  THAN  ALL  OTHER  CYMBALS  COMBINED. 


S  H  O 

P  T  A  1 

L 

K 

Drums:  An  Engineer 


Last  month  we  looked  at  an  acoustic  drum 
from  the  viewpoint  of  an  engineer.  We  used 
some  basic  physical  principles  to  help  us 
understand  how  an  acoustic  drum  works. 
This  month  we'll  extend  this  analysis  to 
drumheads. 

First,  let's  discuss  a  property  of  musical 
instruments  called  "modes  of  vibration."  If 
the  A  string  of  a  guitar  is  plucked,  we'd 
expect  to  hear  an  A  note  (110  vibrations 
per  second).  This  does  indeed  happen. 
However,  we  hear  higher  frequencies,  too. 
The  A  note  by  itself  is  the  "fundamental" 
mode  of  vibration;  the  higher  frequencies 
that  we  hear  simultaneously  are  produced 
by  higher  modes  of  vibration.  No  musical 
instrument  can  produce  only  a  fundamen¬ 
tal  mode;  the  closest  that  we  can  come  is  a 
tuning  fork  (which  still  isn't  quite  pure). 
The  amount  and  volume  of  the  higher 
modes  give  musical  instruments  their  own 
individual  sounds.  This  is  why  pianos  and 
trumpets  sound  different,  even  if  the  same 
notes  are  played  on  each. 

Before  we  examine  drumheads  specifi¬ 
cally,  we'll  look  at  a  simpler  mechanical 
system:  a  vibrating  string.  (Analyzing  the 
string's  properties  will  make  it  easier  to 
understand  drumheads  later.)  Picture  a  gui¬ 
tar  string  that  has  just  been  plucked.  We 
automatically  think  of  it  vibrating  as  in  Fig¬ 
ure  1.  What's  not  so  obvious  is  that  the 


Figure  2:  Some  higher  modes  of  a  vibrating  guitar  string. 


nice  ringy  sound.  The  cen¬ 
ter  of  the  drum,  however,  is 
something  of  a  paradox.  It's 
the  anti-node  for  the  fun¬ 
damental  (and  most  impor¬ 
tant)  mode.  However,  for 
four  out  of  the  first  six  (and 
five  out  of  the  next  six) 
modes,  it's  part  of  a  nodal 
line.  This  is  why  the  center 
of  the  drumhead  is  a  "dead" 
spot;  the  higher  modes  of 
vibration  aren't  present 
when  you  hit  the  drum 
there. 

We  can  use  this  infor¬ 
mation  if  we  decide  to 
muffle  the  drum.  The  cen¬ 
ter  of  the  drumhead  is  a 
good  spot  to  dampen  the 
fundamental  mode  of  the 
drum,  since  it's  the  anti¬ 
node  for  this  lowest  fre¬ 


Figure  7:  Fundamental  vibration  of  a  guitar  string. 


string  is  simultaneously  vibrating  in  several 
other  patterns,  as  shown  in  Figure  2.  (We 
would  see  these  patterns  if  we  looked  at  a 
vibrating  string  with  a  strobelight  instead  of 
a  steady  light.)  These  are  its  higher  modes 
of  vibration. 

Scientists  have  invented  their  own  termi¬ 
nology  to  describe  this  sort  of  vibrating 
system.  Of  interest  to  us  is  the  word  "node." 
This  describes  a  point  (such  as  in  the  middle 
of  the  string  of  Figure  2A)  where  there  is  no 
movement.  Conversely,  an  "anti-node"  is  a 
point  at  which  maximum  movement  oc¬ 
curs.  In  Figure  2A,  there  are  two  anti-nodes, 
at  1/4  and  3/4  of  the  way  along  the  string. 
Touching  this  vibrating  string  at  different 
points  will  have  different  effects.  If  we  touch 


a  node,  nothing  will  happen;  the  string  will 
continue  to  vibrate  unimpeded.  However, 
if  we  touch  an  anti-node,  vibration  will  be 
obstructed. 

Now,  we'll  apply  all  of  this  to  drum¬ 
heads.  If  we  assume  a  perfectly  tuned  drum¬ 
head,  we'll  come  pretty  close  to  what 
acoustic  engineers  call  "an  ideal  mem¬ 
brane."  These  scientists  have  analyzed 
membrane  vibration  pretty  exten¬ 
sively.  What  they  found  can  be 
useful  to  us  as  drummers. 

Drumheads  are  actually  very 
complex  devices.  Our  guitar  string 
analogy  is  still  useful,  but  we  must 
change  our  idea  of  a  "node"  to 
that  of  a  "nodal  line."  In  a  drum¬ 
head,  there  are  no  longer  points 
with  no  movement.  Instead,  there 
are  lines  of  no  movement. 

Figure  3  shows  the  first  six  modes  of 
vibration  of  a  drumhead.  Each  has  a  nodal 
line  around  the  rim,  which  is  obvious:  The 
rim  prevents  motion.  However,  nodal  lines 
also  occur  across  the  head  and  around  it. 
(This  may  all  seem  strange,  but  it's  a  proven 
fact.)  These  six  modes  are  the  simplest;  at 
least  12  have  been  identified,  and  they  get 
more  complicated  as  you  go  up.  However, 
since  the  lowest  modes  are  generally  the 
loudest,  we'll  content  ourselves  with  the 
first  six. 

These  modes  are  the  reasons  behind 
some  common  drum  behavior.  If  you  hit  a 
drum  out  near  the  rim,  chances  are  you're 
hitting  an  area  that's  an  anti-node  for  most 
of  the  modes  of  vibration.  This  will  give  a 


quency.  Adhesive  "dots"  are  sold  for  this 
purpose,  in  various  sizes.  The  more  popu¬ 
lar  option  is  to  buy  ready-made  dotted 
heads.  (Such  heads  also  have  the  advan¬ 
tage  of  being  more  durable  than  a  plain 
head.)  If  you  want  to  muffle  more  of  the 
drum's  modes,  try  a  Remo  Pinstripe  or, 
more  extremely,  an  Evans  Flydraulic  oil- 
filled  head.  Last  month's  article  explained 
how  a  many-layered  material  filters  out 
the  higher  frequencies,  and  this  same  prin¬ 
ciple  applies  here.  If  instead  you  want  to 
soak  up  only  the  really  high  frequencies, 
try  a  little  tape  or  tissue  muffling,  at  a  spot 
a  few  inches  inside  the  rim.  A  good  for¬ 
mula  to  use  is  to  multiply  the  drum's  di¬ 
ameter  by  1/5  or  1/4.  So,  for  a  12"  tom, 
you'd  muffle  2  1/2"  to  3"  away  from  the  rim. 
This  is  where  most  of  the  anti-nodes  are. 
The  actual  orientation  of  the  nodal  lines 
will  depend  on  how  many  lugs  there  are 
and  where  they're  located,  so  don't  try  just 
one  spot.  Move  the  muffling  around  a  little 
to  see  what  sounds  best,  but  keep  the  same 
distance  from  the  rim.  An  inch  or  two  to 
the  left  or  right  might  mean  the  difference 
between  a  node  and  an  anti-node  for  a 
certain  mode  of  vibration. 

How  much  muffling  to  use  is  a  matter  of 
taste,  but  the  less,  the  better.  If  you  use  too 
much,  you'll  increase  the  effective  mass  of 
the  drumhead  and  (if  you  really  pile  it  on) 
decrease  the  effective  surface  area.  Both 
actions  raise  the  drum's  pitch. 

If,  to  get  a  reasonable  sound,  you  do 
have  to  really  pile  on  the  muffling, 
something's  wrong.  If  tuned  properly,  the 


50 


MODERN  DRUMMER 


by  Spiros  A.  Psarris 


ing  Analysis:  Part  2 


Figure  3:  The 
first  six  modes 
of  a  vibrating 
drumhead. 


drum  should  give  a  decent  sound  even  by 
itself.  If  the  drum  won't  tune  properly,  check 
your  equipment.  Less  expensive  drums  es¬ 
pecially  have  problems  such  as  bendable 


rims,  poorly  machined  threads  in  the  lug 
boxes,  etc.  These  types  of  things  will  make 
it  impossible  to  get  a  good  sound  from  the 
drum. 


By  the  way,  drumshells  also  have  nodes 
and  anti-nodes.  As  drummers,  we  have  little 
influence  over  the  drumshell's  vibration,  so 
we  usually  ignore  it.  However,  we  now 
know  what  is  meant  by  certain  snare  drum 
companies  when  they  boast  of  hardware 
on  the  drum's  "nodal  points."  We  see  that 
hardware  mounted  on  the  nodes  of  vibra¬ 
tion  will  have  little  effect  on  the  drum's  vi¬ 
bration.  Compare  this  to  the  dead  weight 
of  six  to  ten  blocks  of  metal  screwed  to  the 
drumshell  at  non-nodal  points.  Obviously, 
"nodal-point"  hardware  is  an  improvement. 

We've  now  examined  the  complete  op¬ 
eration  of  an  acoustic  drum.  Study  this  in¬ 
formation  carefully,  and  make  sure  you 
understand  the  underlying  principles.  They 
can  help  to  eliminate  the  guesswork  when 
you  try  to  achieve  "your"  sound.  Good 
luck! 


FREE!  DISCOUNT  DRUM  CATALOG 


“T”  SHIRTS 

$6.50  per  shirt 

Certified  Check  or  Money  Order  Only 
(Includes  Shipping) 

Outside  US 
$8.00  US  Funds 


—Specify  Size — 


“We  will  beat  any  advertised  price” 
ATLANTA 

PRO  PERCUSSION,  INC. 

2526  Spring  Road  •  Smyrna,  GA  30080 

(404)  IDO-DRUM  (404)  436-3786 

Call  or  write  for  our  FREE  DISCOUNT  FLYER 
Call  Information  for  our  toll  free  number 


When  you  are  serious  about  your  sounds 


Recording  Quality  Drumset  Rentals 

Offering  L.A.'s  Finest  Collection 
of  Acoustic.  Electronic  &  Vintage  Drums 


•  Sets  -  modified  and  tweeked  for  recording 
by  the  Drum  Doctor  Ross  Garfield. 

•  Serious  Snores  •  over  60  to  choose  from, 
including  Black  Beautys,  Radio  Kings, 
Piccolos.  Pioneers,  Noble  and  Cooleys. 

•  Tuning  ■  we'll  make  the  drums  on  your 
session  sing  in  no  time. 

•  Samplers  -  and  triggering  devices. 

•  Cartage  •  licensed  and  insured. 

.  WILL  SHIP  ANYWHERE. 

.  7  DAYS  .  24  HOURS 

(818)  765-7989 

N.  Hollywood,  California 


MODERN  DRUMMER 


51 


MANN  i  onitrumi  from  page  23 


AQUARIAN 

DRUMHEADS 

NEW  Signature  series 
drumhead  from  AQUARIAN 


Jack  De  Johnette 
helped  us  test  and 
develop  a  drumhead 
for  his  special  style 
and  sound 


Many  drummers  are 
respected  for  a  certain  style 
such  as  rock,  big  band,  jazz, 
classical,  electronic,  and 
they  all  have  their  fans.  But 
among  all  drummers  of  all 
styles.  Jack  De  Johnette  is 
admired  and  respected  all 
over  the  world.  He  Is  the 
ultimate  multidirectional 
drummer. 

AQUARIAN  has  designed 
a  drumhead  especially  for 
Jack's  varied  and  demand¬ 
ing  requirements.  It  is  a 
special  Textured-Black 
snare  drumhead  of  great 
sensitivity  and  power.  Jack's 
picture  and  signature 
appear  on  the  package  of 
each  Textured-Black  head. 

Ask  for  this  special  snare 
drumhead  at  your  local 
dealer  or  drumshop. 

AQUARIAN  ACCESSORIES 
1 1 40  N.  Tustin  Ave.,  Anaheim 
CA  USA  92807  [714]  632-0230 

Ail  Rights  Reserved 


52 


everyone  in  the  group  decides  what  group 
of  instruments  he  wants  to  play,  and  then 
we  just  play.  And  because  we’ve  done  it  so 
much,  a  lot  of  the  stuff  sounds  really  coher¬ 
ent,  as  though  there  is  some  kind  of  ar¬ 
rangement.  We  decided  to  do  an  album 
like  this  because  we  always  wind  up  im¬ 
provising  together  at  rehearsals  and  taping 


it.  Then,  when  we  listen  back,  we  always 
wish  that  it  had  been  taped  on  a  DAT  or 
something,  because  it  sounds  like  a  com¬ 
posed  piece. 

"More  and  more,  the  members  of  the 
group  are  specializing  in  specific  instru¬ 
ments  that  are  distinctly  different.  Lucky 
Mosko  is  playing  more  and  more  piano. 
John  Bergamo  is  playing  more  hand  drums. 
Gregg  Johnson  is  getting  into  singing  and 
rapping  as  an  extension  of  his  use  of  junk 
and  car  springs  and  industrial  by-products. 
I’m  getting  more  into  electronics  and  mal¬ 
lets.  Larry  Stein  is  sort  of  the  Hal  Blaine  of 
the  group;  he  plays  a  lot  of  rock  ’n’  roll 
drumset  and  has  been  delving  into  guitar. 
Jim  Hildebrandt  likes  to  focus  on  steel 
drums.  Combining  six  distinct  individuals 
like  this  is  much  more  interesting  than  hav¬ 
ing  a  bunch  of  guys  all  kind  of  doing  the 
same  thing." 

In  addition  to  the  album,  video  projects 
are  also  in  the  works.  "Video  artist  Toby 
Keeler  and  his  assistant,  Mark  Mueller,  went 
to  Germany  with  us,"  Ed  says,  "and  he 
taped  everything  from  the  setting  up  of  in¬ 
struments  in  the  studio  to  the  band  deliver¬ 
ing  a  stirring  rendition  of  ’Stand  By  Your 
Man.’  Then  we  did  a  two-week  concert 
tour  and  they  taped  that,  too — the  perform¬ 
ances  as  well  as  the  backstage  antics.  We 
ended  up  with  about  40  hours  of  footage. 
Toby  is  going  to  edit  it  down  into  various 
formats:  a  four-minute  video  for  VH-1  type 
stations,  ten-minute  mini-documentaries, 
and  an  hour-long  documentary.  It  will 
probably  take  a  year  to  complete  the  whole 
thing,  but  it  should  be  an  interesting  proj- 


ddrum 

Real  drums  never  sounded  so  good . 
Digital  drums  never  felt  so  good. 
25  Undeman  Drive 
Trumbull,  CT  06611 

(203)  374-0020 


Ed  Mann  rs  truly  a  master  of 
percussion.  Ed's  choice  in 
drumsticks  and  mallets  - 
Vic  Firth. 


m 

m 


FIRTH 


vsc  Firth,  Inc. 
323  Whiting  Ave.,  Unit  3 
Dedham.  MA  02026 


Photo  by  David  Rose/The  Independent 


ect. 

"At  least  we  were  able  to  document  the 
band,"  Ed  adds.  "It's  such  a  weird  band 
that  it  would  be  a  shame  if  it  never  got 
documented.  I  don't  know  of  any  other 
band  doing  the  kind  of  stuff  we  do,  or  who 
have  the  kind  of  diversity  that  we  have.  For 
example,  Lucky  Mosko  spends  most  of  his 
time  conducting  ballet  and  opera  in  San 
Francisco  and  at  the  Aspen  Music  Festival, 
and  he  teaches  composition  part-time  at 
Yale.  And  he's  a  member  of  the  Repercus¬ 
sion  Unit.  He  has  an  extensive  awareness 
of  contemporary  music  and  compositional 
technique,  and  it  comes  into  play.  He'll 
come  into  rehearsal  and  start  talking  about 
some  method  that  Stockhausen  used  to  put 
together  his  compositions,  and  the  next 
thing  you  know,  we're  doing  the  same  thing. 
It's  like  going  to  school.  Bergamo  will  come 
in  with  some  hand  drum  that  we  didn't 
even  know  existed,  and  we'll  start  doing 
something  around  that.  Or  I'll  come  in  with 
some  new  electronic  gizmo,  and  that  will 
set  us  off  in  a  different  direction.  So  it's  a 
constantly  evolving  ball  of  wax  that  doesn't 
have  any  artistic  limitations.  Anything  goes. 
For  us,  it's  therapy  as  much  as  anything 
else.  Also,  because  we've  been  doing  this 
for  so  long,  it's  gotten  to  be  kind  of  like  an 
Elks  Club,  complete  with  a  secret  Lodge 
and  all  kinds  of  strange,  ritualistic  behav¬ 
ior." 

Being  that  the  Repercussion  Unit  is  made 
up  of  such  a  unique  group  of  individuals, 
and  that  much  of  their  music  is  impro¬ 
vised,  just  how  do  they  fit  into  the  overall 
picture  of  percussion  groups?  Do  they  have 
any  relevance  to  the  typical  college  per¬ 
cussion  ensemble?  "Well,"  Ed  answers, 
"there  is  a  lot  of  music  that  John  has  writ¬ 
ten  that  we've  played  and  that  is  published. 
And  anyone  who  knows  the  Repercussion 
Unit  knows  that  stuff.  I  have  heard  other 
percussion  ensembles  play  it,  and  it's  inter¬ 
esting  because  it  never  sounds  anything 
like  a  Repercussion  Unit  performance.  The 
order  of  pitches  is  about  the  same,  but  the 
phrasing  and  overall  performance  is  no¬ 
where  near  it.  Not  that  it  should  be. 

"The  feedback  we  get  is  that  when  people 
hear  us,  they  are  not  so  much  inspired  to 
play  the  exact  same  music  we  play,  but  to 
experiment  with  different  compositional 
forms  and  cross-pollinations  of  musical 
styles.  They're  inspired  to  take  more 
chances  and  to  get  as  much  as  possible  out 
of  percussion  instruments,  which  is  a  huge 
amount.  So  in  that  sense,  we  do  have  an 
effect  on  other  ensembles,  just  in  the  fact 
that  we  might  inspire  them  to  do  some¬ 
thing  they've  never  thought  of  before. 

"And  that's  the  whole  reason  we  started 
doing  it  anyway,"  Mann  adds.  "We  wanted 
to  carve  out  some  new  turf.  So  in  that  sense, 

I  think  we  are  relevant.  There  are  other 
ensembles  that  do  things  their  own  way. 
Nexus  is  a  drastically  different  group  than 
we  are,  but  experimenting  and  exploring  is 
a  big  part  of  what  they  do.  Whenever  I  see 
Nexus  play  I'm  inspired  to  hit  on  some 
new  area  that  they've  embodied  in  their 


FREE 

T-SHIRT 

WITH  MOST 
PURCHASES . 


PHONE: 

(813)237-5597 

FAX: 

(813)238-5443 
CALL  FOR  OUR 
TOLL-FREE  ORDER 
HOTLINE 


An  Unbelievable  in-stock  PERCUSSION  INVENTORY! 

L.P.,  TAMA,  BEATO,  NOBLE  AND  COOLEY,  SABIAN,  DDRUM,  ZILDJIAN, 
GRETSCH,  R.I.M.S.,  PEARL,  SONOR,  VIC  FtRTH,  REMO,  REGAL,  D.W., 
PROMARK,  EVANS,  ROLAND,  ANVIL,  LUDWIG,  PAISTE. 


LARGEST  DRUM  INVENTORY  ANYWHERE! 


MODERN  DRUMMER 


53 


HAVE  YOU 
MOVED? 

We  want  to  send  you 
every  valuable  issue  of 
MD  you're  entitled  to. 

But  we  can't  send  it 
if  we  don’t  know 
where  you  are! 

Just  call  an 
MD  Service  Rep  at 
1-800-435-0715 

(Mon-Fri  8:30AM-4:30PM  CST) 

In  Illinois  call 
1-815-734-6309 
For  Immediate 
Assistance. 


performance. 

"That’s  the  thing:  Each  musician  or  group 
is  going  to  approach  something  in  a  unique 
way.  You  can  often  learn  a  lot  just  by  watch¬ 
ing  how  other  people  do  things.  Develop¬ 
ing  in  your  own  way  what  you  learn  from 
others  will  ultimately  result  in  something 
that  is  still  unique  to  you." 

Besides  the  new  Repercussion  Unit  al¬ 
bum,  Ed  has  another  current  project  that 
he  is  excited  about:  his  first  album  as  a 
leader,  titled  Get  Up,  also  being  released 
on  CMP.  It’s  something  that  he’s  thought 
about  for  a  long  time,  but  that  he  didn't 
want  to  do  until  he  was  sure  of  his  own 
direction.  "Since  about  the  beginning  of 
the  ’80s,"  he  says,  "I've  gone  through  a  lot 
of  trial  and  error  basically  finding  out  what 
I  want  my  own  music  to  be.  What  I've 
found  is  that  I'm  more  concerned  with 
content  and  continuity,  rather  than  with 
music  that  is  just  a  framework  for  a  lot  of 
solos. 

"So  during  that  period  of  time  I  would 
get  people  together  and  play,  and  I  was 
experimenting  a  lot  with  writing.  I  also 
became  aware  of  African  pop  music,  par¬ 
ticularly  Nigerian  stuff.  The  music  seemed 
to  be  very  connected,  and  I  liked  the  way 
the  parts  interacted  rhythmically.  It  re¬ 
minded  me  a  lot  of  the  experiences  I'd  had 
with  Steve  Reich's  music  and  that  type  of 
thing.  But  it  also  had  this  real  groove  sensi¬ 
bility  to  it,  and  that's  always  been  impor¬ 
tant  to  me.  I  grew  up  listening  to  Motown 


and  Hendrix,  and  I  still  really  like  that  mu¬ 
sic.  It's  real  emotional  stuff.  So  in  my  own 
music  I  like  to  combine  some  of  that  over¬ 
all  feeling  with  the  interlocking  rhythmic 
patterns  and  simple  melodies  that  often  form 
the  basis  of  my  tunes,  rather  than  just  fea¬ 
ture  a  lot  of  chopsy  playing.  That's  one 
reason  why  the  solos  on  this  record  are 
minimal,  and  often  from  other  members  of 
the  band  rather  than  myself.  To  write  all  of 
the  music  and  be  the  guy  who  always  solos 
would  have  been  musically  unbalanced  for 
this  particular  project. 

"Another  thing  I  wanted  to  do  was  have 
a  band  sound,"  Ed  says.  "I  wanted  to  use 
the  same  guys  on  all  of  the  tunes  and  re¬ 
cord  everything  in  the  same  place  so  that  it 
would  have  an  identifiable  sound.  Some¬ 
thing  special  happens  when  you  stick  with 
the  same  guys  and  develop  things  together, 
as  opposed  to  having  different  people  on 
every  tune,  where  you  are  constantly  mix¬ 
ing  and  matching  various  personalities. 
There  can  be  a  place  for  that,  but  I  was 
interested  in  developing  something  with  this 
particular  group  of  players.  I  used  guys  that 
I've  played  with  a  lot  in  other  situations. 
Chad  Wackerman  played  drums,  and  we've 
probably  played  thousands  of  hours  to¬ 
gether  in  Frank's  band,  as  well  as  having 
played  together  on  the  side.  I  had  Walt 
Fowler  on  trumpet  and  flugelhorn,  and 
Bruce  Fowler  on  trombone,  and  again, 
we've  played  a  lot  together  with  Frank. 
And  I  worked  with  the  guitarist,  Mike 


Hoffman,  and  the  bass  player,  Doug  Lunn, 
in  a  band  I  had  from  '84  to  '86  called  Left, 
Right,  Left.  That's  one  place  that  I  had  the 
chance  to  do  a  lot  of  experimenting  and 
develop  my  ideas.  So  by  having  this  par¬ 
ticular  cast  of  characters  and  taking  time  to 
develop  the  material,  I  think  we  arrived  at 
a  real  identifiable  sound.  I  wanted  music 
that  is  interesting  to  listen  to,  as  opposed  to 
music  that  is  just  impressive.  And  so  far  the 
feedback  is  that  people  enjoy  listening  to 
it." 

Considering  Mann's  expertise  with  elec¬ 
tronics  and  his  knowledge  of  a  variety  of 
instruments,  he  could  easily  have  made  a 
true  "solo"  album  and  played — or  pro¬ 
grammed,  as  the  case  may  be — all  of  the 
parts  himself.  But  that  was  never  a  consid¬ 
eration.  "Sure,  I  could  have  done  that,"  he 
admits,  "but  I  wanted  the  music  to  have  an 
edge  to  it  that  you  only  get  from  having  a 
band  playing  together.  Plus,  I  can't  play 
trombone.  And  even  though  I  can  play 
drums,  I'm  not  going  to  play  them  the  same 
way  Chad  Wackerman  plays  them.  By  hav¬ 
ing  a  band,  you  get  a  certain  amount  of 
interplay  that  happens  because  each  per¬ 
son  plays  a  little  bit  differently.  In  order  to 
make  all  the  pieces  of  the  musical  puzzle 
fit,  the  musicians  have  to  find  a  way  to 
work  together,  and  you  get  a  certain  kind 
of  tension  and  release.  It's  a  special  type  of 
thing,  and  it's  something  that  I  definitely 
wouldn't  have  had  if  I  had  played  all  of  the 
parts  myself,  from  only  my  point  of  view. 


"I  really  have  to  emphasize  that  it's  one 
thing  to  have  compositional  ideas  and  kind 
of  provide  the  direction,  but  the  real  rea¬ 
son  that  it  winds  up  sounding  the  way  it 
does  is  because  of  the  players  involved. 
They  really  bring  it  to  life.  You  never  real¬ 
ize  it  more  until  you  compare  a  sequenced 
demo  of  a  tune  to  the  real  thing.  The  only 
comparison  is  that  the  order  of  pitches  and 
general  rhythms  are  about  the  same.  What 
really  makes  it  a  piece  of  listenable  music 
is  what  the  players  put  into  it." 

As  one  might  expect,  Mann  plays  a  vari¬ 
ety  of  percussion  instruments  on  the  al¬ 
bum,  and  he  incorporates  a  healthy  share 
of  electronic  technology.  And  yet,  his  iden¬ 
tity  as  a  percussionist  is  always  evident. 
Even  with  the  synthesized  sounds,  there  is 
always  something  unmistakably  percussive 
about  them.  "That's  why  I  do  my  own  pro¬ 
gramming,"  Ed  says.  "I'm  using  the  same 
synthesizers  and  samplers  that  everybody 
else  in  the  world  is  using  right  now,  so  it's 
all  in  the  programming.  Again,  it's  impor¬ 
tant  not  to  lose  the  identity  of  the  person 
who's  doing  it.  So  being  a  percussionist, 
the  things  I  come  up  with  on  these  elec¬ 
tronic  gizmos  should  be  as  unique  as  the 
sounds  I  get  on  straight  acoustic  percus¬ 
sion.  There  should  be  something  about  the 
sound  that  says,  'That's  a  percussion  patch. 
A  percussionist  came  up  with  that  from  a 
percussionist's  point  of  view.'  A  keyboard 
player  probably  would  not  come  up  with 
that,  because  he  would  be  thinking  a  dif- 


C,ym/w/ '  w  /fsiA/- 

HEAR  THE 
DIFFERENCE 


HEAR  THE  DIFFERENCE 


first  call  drummers  covering  every  style.  Fusion,  funk,  country,  rock, 
jazz... and  a  whole  lot  more.  Independent  spirits.  Exceptional  talents. 
Able  to  bring  musicians  and  their  music  together... and  keep  them  together. 
Onstage  or  in  the  studio,  their  musicality  shines. 

They  choose  cymbals  with  the  same  characteristics.  Quality.  Individuality. 
Versatility.  In  a  single  word  -  SABIAN. 

The  rich  tonality  in  the  hand-hammered  HH  Series,  Explosive  power  in 
the  classic  AA... cymbals  of  flawless  bronze.  They  sound  great  in  any  setting. 

The  unanimous  choice  of  Gerry  Brown  (Stanley  Clarke),  Sonny  Emory  (Earth, 
Wind  &  Fire),  Larrie  Londin  (Session  Great)  and  Ed  Thigpen  (Jazz  Great). 


For  more  information,  write  today: 
Sab  ran  Ltd. 

Me  (luetic,  New  Brunswick 
Canada  EOH  1L0 
Rhone  1-506-272-2019 
Fax  1-506-328-9697 


GERRY,  SONNY,  LARRIE,  ED 


Vehxitv  Sensitive  Bounce  Besj 
\  6'*  Diameter  Can  Be  Mounted 


;  -raa 

& 


.'o'-!-!!!-.. o' 

Custom  Colors 


.  .  .  /TH 


ZJenfer  /m/tt/nVs  WWrome 
FAX  213-372-7336 


STEVE  FERRERA 

EVANS  DRUMHEADS 


RO.  Box  58  *  Dodge  City,  KS  -  67801 
316-225-1308  ■  FAX  318-227-2314 


Flow  Toms  Uno  58  1000  Glass 

H  16  Resoriarrt  T&m  Glass 


RackTbms 
IE*  12,  13 


ferent  way.  It  may  be  the  same  MIDI  equip¬ 
ment,  but  it's  the  programming  and  design¬ 
ing  of  the  sounds  that  make  for  the  differ¬ 
ence. 

"I  recently  did  a  session  for  Mark  Isham 
that  illustrates  this  point  perfectly.  He 
wanted  me  to  come  in  and  play  some 
simple  ostinatos  on  the  Silicon  Mallet.  I 
was  originally  curious  as  to  why  he  had 
called  me,  because  he  is  very  involved  in 
MIDI  and  electronics,  and  the  parts  were 
very  simple,  so  I  figured  that  he  could  eas¬ 
ily  have  played  it  from  his  keyboard  or 
computer.  But  he  wanted  both  the  sounds 
and  the  phrasing  from  a  percussionist's  point 
of  view.  That's  what  made  it  special,  and  I 
was  happy  that  he  called  me  to  do  it." 

A  good  example  of  Ed's  approach  to  cre¬ 
ating  sounds  appears  on  his  album  on  a  cut 
titled  "Shattered  Illusion."  One  of  the  domi¬ 
nant  sounds  on  that  tune  resembles  a  vi¬ 
braphone,  but  there's  more  to  it  than  that. 
"That  sound  on  the  front  part  of  the  tune 
was  made  by  mixing  a  regular  vibe  sound 
with  a  sample  of  my  son  Alexander's  little 
toy  bells — those  metal  tubes  that  are  in  a 
pentatonic  scale — that  was  combined  with 
a  sample  of  an  air  tube  that  I  was  swinging 
around  in  a  circle.  When  I  put  them  to¬ 
gether,  I  got  the  attack  of  the  bell  and  the 
breathiness  of  the  air  tube,  which  gave  the 
vibes  a  different  quality.  Keyboard  players 
are  pretty  intrigued  when  they  hear  this 
stuff,  because  they  generally  don't  have 
samples  of  toy  bells  and  swinging  air  tubes 
to  work  from.  That  is  definitely  a 
percussionist's  domain.  The  electronics 
come  in  because  normally  you  couldn't 
play  chords  and  scales  on  an  air  tube,  but 
with  a  sampler  you  can. 

"That  was  a  case  where  the  sound  in¬ 
spired  the  tune,"  Ed  comments.  "That  hap¬ 
pens  frequently.  I'll  put  samples  together 
and  invent  these  sounds  just  for  the  sake  of 
inventing  them,  or  to  go  after  something 
that  I  hear  in  my  mind's  ear.  Then  I'll  look 
for  the  right  music  to  play  with  that  sound. 
It's  an  interesting  way  to  compose,  as  op¬ 
posed  to  coming  up  with  the  music  and 
then  trying  to  find  the  sounds  that  fit." 

Electronics  plays  another  role  in  Ed's 
composing,  in  that  he  takes  advantage  of 
his  Macintosh  computer.  "It's  simply  a  very 
esoteric  notepad,"  he  laughs.  "I  used  to 
play  ideas  on  marimba  with  a  cassette  re¬ 
corder  running.  But  then  I  had  to  transcribe 
it.  Now,  I  play  the  Silicon  Mallet ,  which  is 
MIDIed  into  the  Macintosh,  and  everything 
is  recorded  into  the  computer  through  an 
Opcode  sequencing  program.  At  any  point 
I  can  hit  Replay  and  hear  one  bar,  two 
bars,  the  last  bar,  the  whole  thing  back¬ 
wards....  It's  a  fast,  efficient  way  to  review 
what  you've  done.  In  fact,  a  few  years  ago  I 


ddrum 

THE  WORLD  LEADER 
IN  DIGITAL  SAMPLING 
25  Lindeman  Drive 
Trumbull,  CT  06611 

(203)  374-0020 


56 


MODERN  DRUMMER 


thought  I  had  writer's  block,  but  it  was  just 
frustration  from  not  being  able  to  work  with 
the  material  efficiently.  As  soon  as  I  started 
working  with  the  computer,  I  had  access  to 
the  material  so  quickly  that  I  could  work 
without  getting  bogged  down.  I  didn't  get 
tired;  in  fact,  it  was  exhilarating  to  be  able 
to  take  what  I  wanted  and  get  rid  of  what  I 
didn't  want  without  having  to  dig  through 
piles  of  paper. 

"So  to  me  it's  been  a  real  positive  thing. 
But  I  want  to  keep  it  in  its  place.  I  used  it  to 
write  my  book,  The  Essential  Mallet  Player, 
and  I  use  it  to  print  out  parts.  But  once  I've 
used  it  to  compose,  construct,  and  notate, 
that's  it.  I  don't  want  to  use  it  for  perform¬ 
ance.  I'd  rather  give  the  basic  parts  to  real 
players  and  have  them  bring  their  own  in¬ 
terpretations  to  it.  Why  should  I  sit  there 
and  program  every  drum  fill  when  I  can 
give  it  to  a  guy  like  Chad,  who's  going  to 
bring  his  own  spirit  to  the  part?  There's 
more  life  in  it  that  way,  and  I  think  it's  more 
interesting  for  the  listener." 

Now  that  the  album  is  finished,  is  the 
group  that  appears  on  it  going  to  stay  to¬ 
gether  and  be  a  real  band?  "Absolutely,"  Ed 
says.  "In  fact,  we've  already  done  a  couple 
of  gigs  just  to  keep  the  momentum  going. 
We'll  start  playing  gigs  in  Southern  Califor¬ 
nia  when  the  album  comes  out,  and  we're 
in  the  initial  stages  of  putting  together  a 
tour  of  Europe  in  the  spring  of  1990. 

"I  really  want  this  to  be  a  performing 
unit,"  Ed  stresses.  "That's  important  to  me 
because  it  keeps  the  music  alive  and  also 
kindles  new  ideas.  Functioning  in  a  band 
draws  things  out  of  you  that  don't  happen 
when  you're  practicing  by  yourself.  When 
you  get  a  bunch  of  people  together,  things 
start  percolating.  And  again,  the  reason  the 
album  sounds  the  way  it  does  is  because 
we  recorded  it  as  a  band,  with  very  little 
overdubbing.  When  we  play  live,  it  sounds 
just  like  the  record.  There  isn't  anything  we 
can't  reproduce.  So  I  want  to  stay  with  that 
band  ethic." 

And  what  about  Zappa?  Ed  Mann  actu¬ 
ally  holds  the  record  for  longevity  with  that 


VIDEO  DRUM  LESSONS 
Joe  Pet  former  drummer  with  Joe  Perry 
of  Aerosmith  accepting  students  of  all 
levels  and  styles  for  Hi-Fi  video  cassette 
correspondence  course. 

How  h  worio: 

Send  an  audio  or  video  cassette  of  your  playing  alone 
or  accompanied.  Include  ipedflc  area*  you  care  to  de¬ 
velop  {double  basi,  4- way  coordination,  timing,  etc.)  I'll 
design  a  month V  worth  of  lesson*  &  practice  wiclse* 
for  you.  Advice  on  book*  lo  complement  my  transcrip¬ 
tions  and  exercise  routines  will  also  be  provided. 
Never  miss  a  beat  with  your  person  allied  lesson  on 
video  or  audio  cassette!  Special  introductory  offer: 

JOE  PET 
P.O.  Box  294  Medford,  MA  021 SS 
(617)  391-1334 


ddrum 

Rea!  drums  never  sounded  so  good . 
Digital  drums  never  felt  so  good. 
25  Undeman  Drive 
Trumbull,  CT  06611 

(203)  374-0020 


band,  and  appears  on  more  albums  than 
any  other  Zappa  sideman.  But  what  are  the 
chances  of  future  work  with  Zappa,  con¬ 
sidering  that  Zappa  has  recently  declared 
that  he  will  never  tour  again,  and  that  he 
might  even  quit  music  altogether?  "The  only 
thing  you  can  be  sure  of  with  Frank,"  Ed 
answers,  "is  that  you  can  never  predict  what 
he's  going  to  do.  A  few  years  ago  he  said 
that  he  never  wanted  to  tour  again,  but 
then  late  in  '87  he  suddenly  called  and 
said  he  was  going  on  the  road.  So  even 
though  there  are  no  tours  or  live  perform¬ 
ances  scheduled  at  the  moment,  I  suppose 
things  could  change  at  any  time." 

Whatever  happens — or  doesn't  happen — 
with  Zappa  in  the  future,  Ed  is  grateful  for 


the  opportunities  that  Zappa  has  given  him. 
"It  really  struck  me  during  that  last  tour," 
Ed  recalls.  "We  were  right  in  the  middle  of 
The  Illinois  Enema  Bandit,'  which  is  this 
real  down-home  blues  number,  and  I'm 
standing  there  playing  and  thinking,  'Where 
else  could  I  play  marimba  on  a  blues  tune 
like  this  with  screaming  guitar?  This  is  ri¬ 
diculous,  but  it's  great!'  Before  I  went  with 
Frank,  I  never  played  blues  marimba  or 
rock-style  marimba,  but  since  having  done 
it  with  his  band,  I  actually  do  quite  a  bit  of 
it  now.  It's  become  part  of  my  musical  vo¬ 
cabulary — part  of  who  I  am  as  a  musi¬ 
cian." 

Zappa  has  always  had  prominent  per¬ 
cussion  in  his  music.  Did  he  ever  discuss 


TWO  GREAT  PERCUSSIONISTS 
TWO  GREAT  RECORDINGS 
CMP -ONE  GREAT  LABEL 


ip  mini _ 

GET  UP  CMP  38 

Ed  Mann,  percussionist  and  synthesist  with 
Frank  Zappa  since  T977  and  co-bunder  ol  the 
critically  acclaimed  Repercussion  Unit  (CMP  31) 
presents  his  debut  recording  as  a  leader,  GET 
UP  He  is  joined  by  fellow  Frank  Zappa  musi¬ 
cians,  drummer  Chad  Wackerman,  Bruce  Fow¬ 
ler  (trombone)  and  Wall  Fowler  (trumpet),  as  well 
as  bassist  Doug  Lunn  (e,  g.  Brian  Adams)  and 
guitarist  Mike  Hoffman,  "Ed  Mann  arid  bends 
have  blended  elements  ol  jazz,  R  &  Bf  pop  and 
island  music  into  a  truly  original  sound,  rich  in 
rhythm  and  melody,"  Rick  Mattingly  ■  Modern 
Drummer  Magazine. 

Digital  Recording /ODD — October  '88 


6LIMWLEZ _ 

ASSYRIAN  ROSE  CMP  42 

Master  hand  percussionist  Gfen  Velez  (frame 
drums,  steel  drum  and  voice),  long  time  asso¬ 
ciate  of  Steve  Retch  and  Paul  Winter,  unveils 
ASSYRIAN  ROSE,  his  bird  production  on  CMP 
Records,  In  the  company  of  Layne  Redmond 
(percussion),  Steve  Gorn  (flute).  John  Clark 
(French  horn)  and  Howard  Levy  (harmonica / 
piano)  indicate  rhythms  and  enchanting  melo¬ 
dies  a  re  combined  to  create  soothingly  dazzling 
Asian  and  Souih -American  rnlluenced  lunes. 

Digit$l  Recording /ODD— June  ‘89 

Available  on  CD's,  Audiophile  Quality  German 
Pressing  and  BASF  Chrome  Cassettes 


CMP  RECORDS 

Member  of 

NAIRD 

Write  for  a  free  catalog 
CMP  Records  155  W,  72nd  Street  #704  Dept.  MD 
NYC.  NY  10023 


Distributed  in  be  US.  by  Rounder.  Gemini, 
Impact,  Rick  Ballard,  North  Country,  Wayside, 
Richman  Brothers  and  Action 


MODERN  DRUMMER 


57 


eking  metal 
always  grabs 
good 


uck  with  Regal  Tip 
ince  i  started 
drums  over  20 
o.  They  're  durable, 
nt  and  the  most 
drumsticks  Tve 
Tm  a  fan  for  life" 


Tiffs  2B 


Drumsticks  are 
from  hand-selected, 
hickory.  Grab 
pair  and  feel  the 
e.  Available  at  better 
or  write  for  free 


any  of  his  philosophies  about  percussion 
with  Mann?  "Not  specifically,"  Ed  says,  "But 
Ruth  Underwood  [Zappa  percussionist  prior 
to  Manni  once  told  me  something  that  I 
thought  was  pretty  enlightening.  In  her  opin¬ 
ion,  Frank's  personality  and  way  of  think¬ 
ing  can  be  summed  up  by  a  fast  single¬ 
stroke  roll  on  the  marimba.  'Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.' 
That's  why  he  liked  marimba  so  much, 
because  it  personified  him.  It's  constant  hard 
attacks,  and  there's  nothing  indistinct  about 
a  marimba  sound:  It's  right  there.  And  Frank 
is  like  that.  I  know  that  doesn't  exactly 
answer  the  question,  but  that  always  stuck 
in  my  mind. 

"I  think  he  just  likes  the  sounds.  Fie  talks 
about  how  he  was  influenced  early  on  by 
Edgar  Varese,  and  percussion  was  certainly 
a  big  part  of  Varese's  music.  Also,  Frank's 
first  instrument  was  drums.  Even  though  he 
never  went  on  to  become  a  drummer,  he 
obviously  has  a  real  love  for  it,  and  I  think 
it  has  benefitted  his  music.  Orchestra  bells 
or  xylophone  can  really  make  a  melody 
stick  out;  a  gong  can  make  low  things  go 
lower;  a  triangle  can  make  high  things  go 
higher;  a  cymbal  crash  can  make  loud 
things  louder.  Percussion  also  gives  Frank's 
music  an  orchestral  quality  that  it  wouldn't 
have  from  just  guitars  and  keyboards.  So 
I'm  sure  that's  why  he  has  always  written  it 
in. 

"I'm  personally  very  glad  that  he  thinks 
that  way,"  Ed  says.  "Not  only  has  it  been  a 
tremendous  opportunity  for  me  personally, 


but  I  think  it's  contributed  significantly  to 
the  evolution  of  percussion.  It's  gotten  a  lot 
of  people  to  listen  to  it  and  has  brought  an 
awareness  of  those  instruments  to  people's 
ears." 

But  while  Mann  is  proud  to  have  been 
associated  with  Zappa's  music,  he  feels  it's 
time  to  establish  his  own  identity.  "A  lot  of 
people  know  that  I've  played  with  Frank 
all  those  years,"  he  explains,  "so  they  as¬ 
sume  that  when  I  write  my  own  music,  it 
will  incorporate  a  lot  of  the  same  ele¬ 
ments — the  polymeters  and  all  that.  But  I 
don't  include  that  kind  of  thing  in  my  own 
music,  just  because  it's  not  what  I'm  in¬ 
clined  to  do. 

"You  can't  get  too  imbedded  in  anybody 
else's  style,"  Ed  continues.  "At  some  point 
you  have  to  find  out  what  it  is  that  you  do, 
and  then  make  your  own  contribution. 
That's  why  I'm  interested  in  working  on  my 
own  projects  right  now.  Most  of  the  record¬ 
ings  I've  done  have  been  with  Zappa  bands, 
and  so  the  playing  is  within  the  context  of 
Frank's  view  as  a  composer.  On  my  own 
album  I  use  a  lot  of  things  that  don't  come 
into  play  as  part  of  a  Zappa  performance. 

"Doing  my  own  music  is  something  I've 
been  thinking  about  for  a  long  time.  I've 
written  music  since  I  was  a  teenager.  But 
it's  taken  me  until  now  to  get  the  concept 
strong  enough  that  I  feel  good  about  it,  and 
to  where  I  know  that  it's  going  to  develop 
and  grow,  rather  than  just  being  one  al¬ 
bum.  I  had  to  wait  until  the  time  was  really" 


MANUFACTURER  OF  QUAUTY  DRUMS 


WRITE  FOR  PRICE  LIST 


order  Drum  Co. 

W  3122  12th  Avenue,  Huntsville,  Alabama  35805 


58 


MODERN  DRUMMER 


right,  though.  There's  no  way  to  force  that 
kind  of  thing.  If  you  do  it  before  you're 
really  ready,  then  you're  doing  yourself  a 
disservice  and  it's  not  going  to  be  success¬ 
ful. 

"I  was  actually  going  to  record  the  al¬ 
bum  in  1987,  and  then  Frank  suddenly 
decided  to  go  out  on  the  road.  So  I  decided 
to  put  it  off  for  a  year,  even  though  I  felt 
that  I  was  ready  to  do  it  then.  But  the 
album  ended  up  being  better  for  having 
waited  a  year,  just  because  my  concept 
changed  in  that  time.  So  it's  important  to 
be  patient.  I  guess  that's  a  fringe  benefit  of 
age." 

Indeed,  Ed  has  taken  his  time  to  get  a 
concept  worked  out,  but  he  refuses  to  put 
extra  pressure  on  himself  by  creating  an 
arbitrary  timetable  for  his  career.  "In  this 
business,"  he  explains,  "we  often  see  people 
who  have  tremendous  success  at  an  early 
age.  It's  easy  to  start  thinking  that  it  all  has 
to  happen  soon,  and  that  the  clock  is  tick¬ 
ing,  and  that,  'Oh  Cod,  I'm  going  to  be  30 
soon  and  I've  missed  my  time.'  If  your  brain 
is  influenced  that  way,  it's  strictly  self-in¬ 
duced.  It  doesn't  have  to  be  reality;  you 
create  your  own  reality.  The  fact  is,  there 
are  a  lot  of  years  left  in  your  life,  and  it 
doesn't  have  to  all  happen  in  a  short  pe¬ 
riod.  The  idea  is  to  build  towards  some¬ 
thing  so  that  when  you're  50  years  old,  you 
will  still  be  coming  on  to  new  things  and 
having  new  experiences.  You  have  to  look 
at  it  as  a  continual  growth  cycle,  rather 
than  feeling  that  everything  after  your  mid- 
30's  is  downhill. 

"It's  always  a  kick  when  you  do 
something  for  the  first  time:  first  gig,  first 
time  on  the  road,  first  time  with  a  major 
band.  Hopefully,  you  can  continue  to  have 
first  experiences  at  age  50,  60,  70.  So  for 
me,  having  my  first  solo  album  is  that  kind 
of  experience,  and  it  makes  me  feel 
younger.  It's  important  to  feel  young,  no 
matter  what  age  you  are." 


NOW  Available! 

M&K  lYodutlwnu 

Today's  Outstanding  Performer  SERIES  Videos 

Les  DeMerle 

Rock) Fusion  Drum  Set  Applications 
Complete  Lesson  Package 

Recommended  by:  Louie  Belhon,  Joe 

Morelia,  Paul  Wertica,  Drum  Tracks  A 
Modem  Drummer  Magazines! 

78  Minute  Video  &  Book  Package  -  $3945  4  £4,00  P*H 
Mastercard  &  Vba  Accepted^ 

PRODUCTIONS 

a  IB  Orotd  Ridg,s  Circle  UnplwtTK.  PA  19047 

_ (21  j)  7S0-NEWS  _ 


ddrum 

THE  WORLD  LEADER 
IN  DIGITAL  SAMPLING 

25  Lmdeman  Drive 
Trumbull.  CT  06611 

(203)  374-0020 


MODERN  DRUMMER 


TM-lStfTjntlMJpJ 


Hunt 

The  best  reason  to  play  drumsi 


tort’s  new  complete  line  of  professional 
Latin  Ftncussion  instruments  are  as  dose  as 
your  local  Pearl  Dealer  New  Redwood  and 
Rubberwood  Cbogas  and  Bongo*  Redwood 
MinLCongas  and  steel  shell  Timbales,  have 
all  been  designed  to  capture  the  essence  and 
tradition  of  today's  Latin  sound. 


CG-300  12'  Naiural  Finish  UPdwtvd  Tumbs  (left) 

C&2U0  IT  Natural  Finish  Conga  [right} 

With  great  attention  given  to  detail,  exclusive  features, 
unbelievable  sound  quality  and  beautiful  natural  lacquer 
finishes,  Ftearfs  new  Latin  fenrsson  line  wont  be  banging 
out  at  muse  stores  wry  long.  ..these  sldn  heads  will  be 
hanging  out  at  the  gig  with  you. 


59 


ROCK  PERSPECTIVES 

The  Ageless  Beats  Of 


After  playing  a  recent  show  with  the  Jefferson 
Airplane,  I  was  riding  on  the  bus  and  listening  to 
some  music  from  the  '60s,  70s,  and  '80s,  when  I 
realized  that  certain  beats  have  been  used  over 
and  over  since  the  beginning  of  rock  'n'  roll  mu¬ 
sic.  A  lot  of  these  beats  have  stood  the  test  of  time 
and  have  become  the  signature  of  rock  'n'  roll 
drumming.  I  have  chosen  eight  beats  (and  a  few 
variations)  to  look  at  in  this  article.  These  beats  are  like  the  ABC's 
of  rock  'n'  roll. 


MUSIC  KEY 


H  H  X  -  . 

so  ~w 

so 

Cross 

Slick 

Beat  #1 


g  d  d  i 

n 

d  d  ? 

CL, 

:  %  .  =4 

■— —  „ - 

■ - \ 

r  1 

r — r 

Beat  #1  is  probably  the  most  basic  rock  beat  you  can  play. 
Ringo  Starr  used  it  in  the  '60s  on  a  lot  of  the  early  Beatle  songs,  "I 
Should  Have  Known  Better,"  "Can't  Buy  Me  Love,"  "I'll  Be  Back," 
"Help,"  and  "And  Your  Bird  Can  Sing,"  to  name  a  few.  Charlie 
Watts  also  recorded  this  same  beat  on  the  Stones  record  "Let's 
Spend  The  Night  Together"  during  the  verses.  In  the  70s,  Elton 
John  used  this  beat  on  his  song  "Goodbye  Yellow  Brick  Road." 
More  recent  examples  of  this  beat  can  be  found  on  Foreigner's 
"Juke  Box  Hero"  and  INXS's  "New  Sensation."  To  me,  the  best 
example  of  how  this  basic  beat  defines  what  rock  drumming  is  all 
about  in  its  purist  and  rawest  form  is  on  AC/DC's  "Back  In  Black." 
This  beat  is  so  perfect  for  rock  'n'  roll.  It's  like  what  the  swing  beat 
is  to  jazz  music:  When  you  play  jazz  you  swing,  and  when  you 
play  rock,  you  rock!  "Back  In  Black"  definitely  rocks! 

Beat  #2 


Another  beat  that  has  worked  its  way  from  '60s  rock  'n'  roll  into 
the  '80s  is  this  one: 


) 

i  y  \ 

o 

:  n  , 

n . 

n - *  * - * - *1 

U - 1 _ _ _ _ _ _ , _ _  -1 

— — [ 

^ ^ 

Once  again,  Ringo  Starr  played  this  beat  on  the  following  Beatle 
songs:  "You're  Gonna  Lose  That  Girl,"  "I  Want  To  Hold  Your 
Hand,"  "She  Loves  You,"  and  "Nowhere  Man,"  to  name  a  few. 
Other  songs  from  the  '60s  that  had  this  same  beat  include  the 
Kinks'  "Tired  Of  Waiting,"  Jan  &  Dean's  "Dead  Man's  Curve,"  the 
Animals'  "It's  My  Life,"  and  the  Four  Seasons'  "Walk  Like  A  Man." 
In  the  70s,  Russ  Kunkel  used  this  beat  on  the  Jackson  Browne 


song  "The  Pretender."  A 
Cougar's  "Authority  Sor 
rhythm  to  this: 

M  jx 

nd  in  the  '80s,  1  used  this  beat  on  John 
ig."  1  did,  however,  change  the  hi-hat 

2  J*  J  J  2  i? 

1 

B  %  -  - 

.  .  r  : 

1 

r 

j r  1 

■ 

Beat  #3 

y  y  y. 


T  ~LT 


T 


The  Mamas  and  the  Papas  used  this  beat  for  their  song  "Califor¬ 
nia  Dreamin',"  and  the  Byrds  used  it  on  "Turn!  Turn!  Turn!"  (Mike 
Clarke  used  a  cross  stick  for  his  backbeat.)  The  Searchers  recorded 
this  beat  on  their  song  "Love  Potion  #9,"  and  it  can  also  be  found 
on  the  Beatles'  "Drive  My  Car."  The  Stones  recorded  "Jumpin'Jack 
Flash"  and  "Honky  Tonk  Woman"  in  the  early  70s  and  used  this 
beat.  In  the  '80s  Stewart  Copeland  used  it  in  the  chorus  of  "Spirits 
In  The  Material  World,"  and  Alan  White  of  Yes  used  part  of  this 
beat  in  "Owner  Of  A  Lonely  Heart." 

Beat  #4 


.  JO 

J  J  1 

n  , 

n 

i 

R  2  f 

LI  <1 _ M  M  M  1 

\  T  1 

J 

The  Beatles  used  this  beat  for  "I  Saw  Her  Standing  There"  and 
for  "Misery."  In  the  70s,  AC/DC  used  it  for  their  song  "Highway  To 
Hell,"  and  I  used  it  for  John  Cougar's  song  "Hurts  So  Good." 

Beat  #5 


In  the  '60s  there  was  a  strong  Motown  influence  in  rock  'n'  roll 
music,  which  still  exists.  For  example,  the  following  beat  was  a 
very  popular  beat  that  the  Supremes  used  in  their  song  "Stop  In 
The  Name  Of  Love." 


In  the  '60s,  there  were  many  examples  of  this  beat  in  rock 
music,  like  the  Young  Rascals'  version  of  "In  The  Midnight  Hour" 
(solo  section),  the  Rolling  Stones'  "Let's  Spend  The  Night  To¬ 
gether,"  the  Dave  Clark  Five's  "Glad  All  Over,"  and  the  Jefferson 
Airplane's  "Somebody  To  Love"  and  "Plastic  Fantastic  Lover."  In 
the  70s,  Derek  and  the  Dominos  used  this  beat  in  the  verses  of 
"Layla,"  and  CSN&Y  used  it  in  the  releases  of  their  song  "Ohio." 

I  used  my  own  version  of  this  Motown  beat  for  the  intros  and 
verses  of  John  Cougar  Mellencamp's  "Paper  In  Fire." 


n - 5 - 3 

n  , 

n 

1  J  J  i 

<1  y 

] — i  — t 

£  p 

: - 1 

*  1 

t 

1 

60 


MODERN  DRUMMER 


Rock  'N'  Roll 


Beat  #6 


— X 

X 

n  , 

C 

J  X  X 

-  A.  1 

**  I  .  m  i  *  1 

.A_ f 

  E   *  1 

1 

Creedence  Clearwater  Revival  used  this  beat  in  the  '60s  for  their 
song  "Fortunate  Sun,"  and  the  Young  Rascals  used  it  for  "In  The 
Midnight  Hour." 

Ginger  Baker  of  Cream  used  a  more  funky  version  of  this  beat  in 
the  song  "White  Room"  that  went  like  this: 


CL 

CL, 

c 

L 

n 

4  *   * iil 

u  — 4  *  - — - *  »  r  — -\ 

7 

n 

In  the  70s,  Levon  Helm  from  the  Band  played  the  following 
beat  on  the  song  "The  Weight,"  and  CSN&Y  used  it  for  "Ohio." 
You  can  also  hear  it  on  the  Stones'  "Brown  Sugar."  (Charlie  plays 


his  signature  hi-hat  part  with  this  beat.) 

,  J  3  i  ^  J  ' 

n - 4  -m  - — 

3  7 

¥  *1 

B - 4 

1  r  □ 

Beat  #7 

'  r  -n 

r - J — — J  .  J. — J— i 

3  n 

LT  r  □ 

* - - *1 

Ringo  Starr  played  this  beat  on  these  Beatle  songs:  "Mean  Mr. 
Mustard,"  "Sexy  Sadie,"  and  "Dear  Prudence."  During  this  time 
period  the  Buffalo  Springfield  also  used  this  beat  on  their  song 
"Bluebird." 

In  the  '80s,  CS&N  used  this  beat  in  their  song  "Southern  Cross," 
but  made  the  beat  into  a  two-bar  figure,  with  the  drummer  playing 
16th  notes  on  his  hi-hat  instead  of  8th  notes. 


J  v 

n - 

J _ J _ xTjJ _ j _ j _ ^  J  j  j  J _ „ 

- >  m  ■! 

—  .  *  -  - 1 

Beat  #8 

In  the  '60s,  the  Hollies  used  the  following  beat  for  a  song  called 
"Bus  Stop."  In  the  70s,  Max  Weinberg  from  the  E  Street  Band  used 
a  slight  variation  of  this  beat  for  "Tenth  Avenue  Freeze-Out"  and 
"Born  To  Run"  (verse  and  solo  sections). 


JCL 

J  J  J  > 

LC 

! 

-  %  - 1 

'  7  =i 

» - 41 

•  i 

- - [ 

r~ 

In  the  '80s,  Stan  Lynch  played  this  beat  on  a  Stevie  Nicks  recorc 
called  "Stop  Draggin'  My  Heart  Around"  (same  version  as  Max 
used  on  Springsteen's  songs). 


) 

n  , 

c 

)  j  : 

< > 

n 

...  i. 

m  4 

p  •  i 

i  ■ .  \ 

*  J 

s  m  m  m  i 

r 

f 

It's  important  to  know  that  the  previous  beats  exist,  because 
they  have  become  a  part  of  the  foundation  of  rock  'n'  roll  music, 
its  sound,  and  its  vibe.  Once  you  can  play  the  important  rock 
beats,  you  can  then  branch  off  and  come  up  with  your  own 
variations  and  combinations.  This  process  will  help  you  develop 
your  own  sound  and  unique  style  of  playing.  igci 


AVAILABLE  FROM  GARY  CHAFFEE 


NEW!!  PATTERN  VOL  IV  (Technique) 

A  comprehensive  system  of  hand  and  foot  coordination. 
Contains  endurance  exercises,  finger  control,  multiple-note 
groupings,  and  much  more. 

Also  Avialable: 

Patterns  Vol.  I  (Rhythm  and  Meter) 

Patterns  Vol.  II  *  (Stickings) 

Patterns  Vol.  Ill  (Time  Functioning) 

Video  Pattems-Stickings  (60  min.  VHS) 

Here's  what  todays  top  players  have  to  say: 

"Gary's  books  get  you  in  tune  with  all  the  possibilities 
available  to  you  as  a  drummer." 

STEVE  SMITH 

"Gary's  materials  are  really  in  touch  with  the  directions 
that  drumming  is  going  in," 

DAVID  GARIBALDI 

"Gary  has  a  really  cool  method  of  teaching  independence 
and  polyrhythms.  He  shows  you  how  it's  broken  down,  and 
what  it's  based  on." 

VINNIE  COLAIOTA 

PATTERNS  VOL.  I,  II,  HI,  IV  $12  per  book;S48  for  set 
VIDEO  PATTERNS-STICKINGS  $57  per  copy 

All  orders  add  $2  shipping;  outside  USA,  add  $5 
Send  check  or  money  order  to: 

GC  MUSIC 

^^^eWhiteOat^Rd^W^Roxbu^M^O^^^^ 


MODERN  DRUMMER 


61 


Photo  by  Rick  Malkin 


UP  &  COMING 


ew  drummers  can  say  that  they  have 
experienced  the  highs  and  lows  of 
being  a  professional  player  more  ac¬ 
curately  than  Billy  Goodness.  For  the  last 
two  years,  Billy  has  held  the  drum  chair  for 
one  of  the  brightest  new  stars  in  country 
music,  Ricky  Van  Shelton.  Ricky  and  his 
band  have  played  just  about  everywhere  in 
the  last  two  years,  from  obscure  Texas  dance 
halls  to  the  New  Orleans  Superdome,  with 
virtually  every  show  bringing  in  capacity 
crowds.  Performances  on  nationally  tele¬ 
vised  broadcasts  such  as  the  Country  Mu¬ 
sic  Awards  haven't  hurt  either.  But  the  rise 
to  prominence  that  Van  Shelton  and  com¬ 
pany  have  enjoyed  is  not  taken  for  granted 
by  Billy,  who  has  done  his  share  of  paying 
dues. 

"In  high  school  I  was  in  a  rock  band  that 
played  tennis  court  dances,  where  we  ac¬ 
tually  played  on  the  courts.  We  also  put  on 
our  own  gigs  at  church  halls.  We  would 
put  up  posters  to  get  people  in  to  gigs  like 


that,"  Billy  recalls  fondly.  "Later  on,  while  I 
was  still  in  high  school,  there  was  this  real 
hot  band  in  town  called  Sweet  Feeling, 
and  I  wanted  to  play  with  them  real  bad.  I 
heard  that  the  drummer  might  be  leaving, 
because  he  had  just  gotten  married,  so  I 
went  to  their  gigs  every  weeknight.  I  was 
playing  on  the  weekends  with  another  band. 

I  would  just  sit  there  and  memorize  every 
single  thing  they  were  doing.  Some  of  the 
guys  thought  I  was  too  young,  but  the  sax 
player,  Danny  Lebate,  saw  how  interested  I 
was  in  playing  with  this  band.  Finally,  after 
I  just  kept  showing  up,  Danny  came  up  to 
me  on  a  break  and  said,  'If  you  want  to 
audition  so  bad,  come  up  next  set  and  play 
some  tunes.'  When  I  went  up,  he  said,  'You 
know  the  tunes,  you  call  'em.'  I  called 
three  or  four  of  their  original  tunes  so  they 
could  tell  I  really  had  studied  their  stuff.  I 
learned  a  big  lesson:  Persistence  pays  off." 

Born  and  raised  in  Rochester,  New  York, 
the  young  Billy  Goodness  found  marching 


Billy 

bands  fascinating — especially  the  drum¬ 
mers.  "The  thing  about  marching  band 
drummers  that  impressed  me,"  says  Billy, 
summing  up  his  first  encounters  with  the 
drums,  "was  that  they  never  had  to  stop 
playing.  I  liked  that."  Billy  participated  in 
several  school  bands  and  orchestras  with¬ 
out  the  benefit  of  formal  study,  but  it  never 
slowed  him  down.  "In  a  way,  I  did  have 
some  training,"  he  says,  "because  I  had 
taken  piano  lessons  when  I  was  about  six. 
When  I  went  to  the  drums,  I  could  read  the 
books  from  what  I  had  learned  taking  pi¬ 
ano  lessons." 

Some  people  are  reluctant  to  discuss  what 
it  took  to  reach  the  position  they  now  hold. 
But  Billy  will  be  the  first  to  tell  you  how  he 
hung  in  there — with  no  apologies  about  it. 
To  support  himself  when  drumming  didn't 
always  make  ends  meet,  he'd  do  whatever 
odd  job  he  could  to  pick  up  extra  money. 
Billy  quips,  "I've  done  a  lot  of  crazy  things. 

I  drove  a  school  bus  for  a  while,  painted 
apartments,  taught,  delivered  pizzas — what¬ 
ever  I  could  get." 

Billy  maintains  that  family  and  friends 
are  essential  for  the  support  and  encour¬ 
agement  they  can  provide  when  the  chips 
are  down.  He  readily  credits  many  people 
for  the  position  he  is  currently  in.  He  also 
believes  that  positive  mental  attitudes  are 
the  cornerstones  to  success  in  the  music 
business,  no  matter  what  your  individual 
endeavor  may  be. 

With  all  the  high-profile  performing  he 
does  today,  Billy  still  cites  one  of  his  great¬ 
est  personal  highlights  as  being  the  first 
time  he  ever  heard  his  own  playing  on  the 
radio  for  a  jingle  he  cut.  "Another  bright 
spot  was  when  I  did  some  production  on 
some  tracks  for  a  guy,  and  then  ended  up 
producing  his  album  and  doing  all  the  ar¬ 
rangements — skills  I  was  later  able  to  use 
on  my  demo  tape,"  Billy  recalls. 

Growing  up  in  Rochester,  Billy  had  the 
good  fortune  to  be  exposed  to  drumming 
great  Steve  Gadd,  who  was  also  a  native  of 
that  city.  Billy  found  Steve's  playing  inspi¬ 
rational.  It  spurred  him  on,  where  many 
drummers  would  put  away  their  sticks  in 
discouragement  after  witnessing  such  mas¬ 
tery.  After  rising  to  the  top  of  the  list  in 
Rochester  as  both  teacher  and  player,  Billy 
felt  it  was  time  to  look  to  a  bigger  city.  "I 
had  been  gigging  since  I  was  15  and  was 
working  at  Dynamic  Studio  as  a  drummer/ 
producer.  I  had  already  done  a  bunch  of 
demos  and  jingles,  and  had  produced  other 
people.  I  realized  I  had  to  go  somewhere 
else  to  do  what  I  wanted,  like  playing  on 
master  sessions  for  albums." 

At  a  clinic  in  1985,  Billy  had  a  conversa¬ 
tion  with  Roy  Burns,  who  encouraged  him 


62 


MODERN  DRUMMER 


Goodness 


by  Michael  Lee  Briggs 


to  visit  Nashville  to  check  out  the  scene 
and  to  look  up  Larrie  Londin.  Larrie,  in 
turn,  promoted  the  idea  of  Billy  moving  to 
Nashville  and  getting  a  job  until  things  came 
together  for  him.  "Larrie  told  me  that  the 
union  hall  was  a  good  place  to  meet  play¬ 
ers.  So  the  last  day  I  was  in  Nashville,  I 
went  to  the  union  hall  and  heard  music 
coming  from  inside.  The  country  act  Dave 
&  Sugar  were  in  there  auditioning  keyboard 
players.  I  went  in  and  sat  on  a  couch  to 
watch.  On  a  break,  I  went  up  to  some  of 
their  people  and  told  them  I  was  thinking 
about  moving  to  Nashville  and  was  look¬ 
ing  for  a  situation.  I  gave  them  my  resume 
and  tape  and  left  town  the  next  day.  Right 
after  that,  their  drummer  gave  notice,  and 
they  happened  to  have  my  tape  and  res¬ 
ume  in  hand."  One  week  later,  Billy  re¬ 
ceived  a  call  and  took  the  gig  with  Dave  & 
Sugar,  and  moved  to  Nashville  to  take  up 
residence  there.  "My  wife  Valerie  and  I 
were  engaged  at  the  time,"  says  Billy.  "She 
had  given  me  the  money  to  visit  Nashville. 
There  is  no  way  I  could  have  achieved 
what  I  have  without  Valerie's  support.  My 
family  life  is  very  important  to  me.  I'm  very 
domesticated." 

Billy  continued  to  play  with  Dave  &  Sugar 
until  he  heard  about  Ricky  Van  Shelton 
from  his  friend  Tommy  Wells,  who  had  cut 
the  tracks  on  what  was  to  be  Ricky's  first 
album.  Tommy  wasn't  available  to  travel, 
so  he  told  Billy  about  the  job  and  recom¬ 
mended  him  to  Van  Shelton's  people — 
which  was  enough  of  a  reference  for  them. 
Billy's  ability,  talent,  and  personality  helped 
to  create  a  great  working  situation  for  all 
involved. 

As  with  most  dedicated  drummers,  Billy 
believes  in  the  value  of  technical  develop¬ 
ment  to  achieve  a  proficiency  that  allows 
unconscious  execution  of  the  music.  As  a 
teacher,  he  encourages  his  students  to  prac¬ 
tice  with  a  metronome  or  to  use  the  songs 
on  the  radio  to  keep  time  while  practicing 
redundant  rudiments,  to  help  keep  things 
fresh.  Billy  relates,  "I'm  into  songs,  not  just 
the  drumming.  If  you  were  to  walk  into  my 
house  you'd  see  that  I  have  a  lot  of  'drum¬ 
ming'  records,  but  nine  times  out  of  ten 
you'd  hear  pop  music  coming  out  of  my 
stereo.  There  are  over  800  albums  in  my 
house — not  counting  CDs  and  cassettes. 
I've  always  listened  to  the  song — from 
Broadway  shows  to  country  to  rock — al¬ 
though  I  do  listen  to  the  technical  stuff 
too." 

Billy  also  focuses  on  the  "feel"  a  drum¬ 
mer  establishes  when  working  with  other 
players.  He  cites  Steve  Gadd,  Gary  Ches¬ 
ter,  Jeff  Porcaro,  Hal  Blaine,  and  Bernard 
Purdie  as  influences  that  helped  shape  his 


attitude  regarding  "feel"  drumming  and  di¬ 
rection. 

About  his  practice  philosophies,  Billy 
says,  "I  would  never  sit  down  with  a  record 
and  try  to  pick  out  that  'exact  lick.'  What  I 
would  use  is  Stick  Control  and  Advanced 
Techniques  For  The  Modern  Drummer  to 
help  develop  coordination.  I  would  never 
practice  slow  and  start  speeding  up,  like  in 
high  school  when  they  teach  rudiments  and 
call  it  'open  to  closed.'  It  was  always  my 
opinion  that  the  drummer's  job  was  to  keep 
the  time  straight,  so  you  shouldn't  practice 
speeding  up  because  then  you'll  speed  up 
when  you  play.  I  would  practice  things  at 
different  tempos,  but  I'd  set  the  metronome 
to  one  tempo,  practice,  and  then  stop  and 
reset  the  metronome  to  a  different  tempo. 
For  set  playing,  I  would  practice  along  with 
records  to  get  the  feel  and  structure  of  a 
song.  I'd  always  play  my  own  fills,  and  I 
encourage  my  students  to  do  that  also.  I 
also  tell  them  to  play  with  a  variety  of 
different  styles — and  not  to  listen  just  to  the 
drummer,  but  to  hear  what  everybody  has 
going  on!" 

Even  though  he  works  with  a  highly  vis¬ 
ible  artist  like  Ricky  Van  Shelton,  Billy  al¬ 


ways  has  time — or  makes  time — to  talk 
drums  with  anyone  who  has  a  question  for 
him.  His  consuming  passion  for  drumming 
gave  him  a  solid  playing  foundation,  while 
his  positive,  Upbeat  personality  and  enthu¬ 
siasm  shines  through  in  his  playing.  Being 
the  consummate  perfectionist,  Billy  de¬ 
mands  a  lot  from  his  equipment  and  en¬ 
dorses  Pro-Mark  drumsticks,  Tempus  drums, 
Sabian  cymbals,  Evans  drumheads,  and 
RIMS  by  PureCussion. 

With  six  Top-10  hits  and  four  Number-1 
hits  on  the  Country  Music  charts  in  1988, 
there  would  seem  to  be  few  hurdles  left  for 
Billy  to  clear.  But  he  hasn't  got  time  to 
relax;  he  is  perpetually  in  motion.  When 
he  isn't  on  the  road,  he  plays  with  other 
artists  and  pursues  his  fascination  with  pro¬ 
duction  in  the  recording  studio.  "I've  al¬ 
ways  loved  recording,"  says  Billy,  "espe¬ 
cially  when  you  have  a  good  song  to  start 
with.  I  record  at  this  little  studio  near  my 
house  with  my  rock  band  or  just  do  drum 
and  keyboard  stuff  on  my  own.  In  the  stu¬ 
dio  not  only  can  I  be  a  drummer,  but  a 
vocalist,  a  composer,  an  arranger,  and  a 
producer  too!"  isgi 


BILLY  GOODNESS 

EVANS  DRUMHEADS 


\  RG  Box  58  ■  Dodge  City  K$  *  67801 
316-225-1308  ■  FAX  316-227-2314 


Bass  Omm 
22 


Rack  Tbms 
SI  10,  12,  14,  IS  Resonajit  Torn  White 


MODERN  DRUMMER 


ROCK 


I 


CHARTS 

Transcribed  by  William  F.  Miller 


W  a" 

f 

■B  A  M  r  jML 

FULL  MOON 


F  i  V  E  f 


Phil  Jones: 

"RunnirY  Down  A  Dream" 


MUSIC  KEY 


This  month's  Rock  Charts  features  one  of  the  singles  off  of  Tom  Petty's  recent  solo  album,  Full  Moon  Fever  (MCA-6253). 
On  "Runnin'  Down  A  Dream,"  Phil  Jones  doesn't  do  anything  too  fancy.  Instead,  he  just  lays  down  a  solid  groove  that 
just  jumps  out  of  your  car  speakers!  Phil  varies  the  hi-hat  pattern  between  quarter  notes  and  8th  notes  throughout,  and 
near  the  end  of  the  tune  he  opens  up  the  hi-hat  a  bit  to  add  more  excitement  to  the  track.  This  is  a  great  chart  to  play 
along  with  because  it's  not  very  difficult  to  read  and  it  really  feels  good.  Give  it  a  try! 

There  is  one  tricky  section  that  appears  two  bars  before  letter  C  and  17  bars  before  letter  E.  At  these  points  in  the  chart 
a  floor  tom  is  indicated  in  the  part,  even  though  it  sounds  as  if  it  may  have  been  overdubbed.  One  way  to  play  these 
sections  is  by  playing  the  hi-hat  with  the  left  hand  and  moving  the  right  hand  between  the  snare  drum  and  floor  tom.  If  this  is  too 
difficult,  leave  the  floor  tom  out. 


!?jp 

s.d  m  i 


(guitar  intro 

n - 4 — — 

U  1  LU.  J  ,JJ 

iJ J J  U J L 

,  i  j  j  j 

_ *  r 

JJJJ 

U - 4 - 

VF r  Lr 

W  r  r~rr~ 

*Fr^ 

«U-J  J  JJJJ  JJJJ 

y:  l  'A  \  'A  \  z-  3E  =Z=  =Z3 _ t  *  I 


rn 1 


(4>  , 


(6) 


JSL 


rr 


Zl Z 


-JJJJJJJJ  JJJJJJJJ 


Z 


r^Lrr~TTT 


p 


_ _ _ _ J.  J  J  J _ 

FI - '/  /  - m - •  > - : fr==r 

AW  A  A  A 

BJJJJ  JJJJ 

u  1  1  r r  Ktt1  1  '  r  r-[£ 

:==i= 

■  >  >  >  > 

11  r r  r r  1  r r  r r  J 

i  z — z 

— z- 

{6) 

z 

I-Z- 

JJJJ 

/ 

yT 

=^= 

=>T 

_  .  J8)  J  J.J.Jj<L 

'/  '/ - r  r 

— 

L 1  1  rf~r f  J 

z  I  z 


x  J  x  x  x  x^K< 


J-JJjJJjJ.  JJJJ 


~m  w 


ppp 


F? r  1  r r  r r 


A. 


J  J  J  J  J  J  J  J ^ JJjJjjjj  jjjjjjjj  Jjjjjjjj 


1 


s 


EFFB 

>  > 


r  iTT  r 1  r 1  r-'-r 


m  •  m 


>  >  > 


>  > 


64 


MODERN  DRUMMER 


MODERN  DRUMMER 


65 


> 

_ 

x!  x!  yc  d  x!  x! x 

J  J  J  : 

<  x  x  x 

i  J  J  J 

x  x  x  j 

x  x  yyyyyx 

J* 

X  X  X  X  >1 

xL 

u 

p — 

=h*=— 

p  p  — 

—  r  1 

9 

p  r 

p 

9 

f=  -p- 

1 

n n 

-*-7 

x  x  x  x 

x  J  J 

e |  

J  j  j  d  ^ 

r 1  r^; 

JTDjjjj 

T- 

x!  d 

H+- 

yy y yy y 

J-r4-r- 

J  J  JJ 

s 

T“ 

xx 

X  x  xi  j  x! 

x 

n 

r  i s  r 

p 

1 - 

- * — T~ 

u 

»  ) 

* 

zm  . 

p 

p. 

H 

> 

> 

TJJJx 

1  > 

x  j  x! x 

> 

v  y  v  5 

>  >  > 

y 

1 

> 

J  y 

l 

J  V  ’ 

n n 

J  y  xx 

X  x!  X  ■J'X  x? 

i  ■  i  1  r 

> 

"•Lx  x  x  yyyy  x  x 

1 

x  'J  x  d  x1 

X 

1  - 

r 

— i  i  — 

I 

1  U  I 

H  i 

■ 

L » 

L_ A 

i  i 

p 

m  ? 

W  t 

r 

I 

1 

> 

i  r 

aim  j 

i 

rm 

J  J  x  J 

I'  ‘  1 

> 

-^X  x!  j 

n 

X  X  j 

1  1  1  1 

XX  xxxxxxxx 

1  1 

> 

▼y  x  x  : 

J  X 

1  r 

XX  XX 

1  1  1 

X  X  X  X  X 

X 

m  999  m  »  m  m 

n  i  i 

a 

1  p 

p 

1 

-i 

i  r 

JJ> 

r 

Dj  JJ  J  iJJ: 

i  i 

3JID  H 

‘ 

hjto 

1 

•*tj  J  J  J 

r 

OTJm 

JJJJ  tn 

3 peat  and  fac 

le) 

n  i 

■ 

v  m 

1 

r  ■ 

m 

j 

r  r 

.  -  f 

1 

r 

W  i 

w.  -4 

p 

t  *  t 

p 

m  1 

*  9 

1  9  I  m 

f 

1 

1 

~  l  1 

1  1 

1  1 

1 

1  1 

1 

^  r^T 

^ 1 ^ 

i 

8 

Introducing  fearl's  new  Custom  Classic  Snare  Drums,  formed  from  a  single  piece 
of  hand  selected  solid  rnaple.  The  idea  isn’t  new.  but  the  patented  shell  forming 


process  and  related  technology  definitely  is.  Custom  Classic's  thicker  one-piece  shell 
(75  mm)  doesn’t  need  inner  glue  rings  for  strength  that  can  rob  resonance,  sustain 

and  contaminate  the  consistency  of  a  smooth, 
unobstructed  air  chamber. 

But  a  pure  classic  sound  is  not  all  this  drum 
has  going  for  it.  New  brass  plated  "bridge"  type 
minimum  contact  tugs,  thick  solid  brass  hoops, 
and  gold  plated  high  carbon  steel  snare  wire  add 
tfte  finishing  visual  and  functional  touches  to  tins 
outstanding  instrument ...  a  true  custom  classic 


At  age  10, 
he  couldn’t  imagine 
what  it  would  feel  like 
to  play  the  world’s 
greatest  drums. 


DRUM  TEACHERS 

Modern  Drummer  is  now  gathering  information  on  drum  teachers  around  the  world.  We'll  be 
using  this  information  to  produce  a  Drum  Teachers  Listing  that  will  encompass  all  styles  of  drumming. 
The  listing  will  be  presented  in  a  future  issue  of  Modern  Drummer  as  a  special  service  for  all  MD 
Readers. 

If  you  teach  drumming  and  would  like  to  be  included  in  the  MD  Teachers  Listing,  please  fill  out  the 
profile  below  (or  a  photocopy}  and  mail  it  in  on  or  before  February  1 5,  1990. 

Mail  your  Profile  to:  Modern  Drummer,  870  Pompton  Avenue,  Cedar  Grove,  New  jersey  07009 

Attention:  Drum  Teachers  Listing 


TEACHERS  PROFILE 


Name  _ _ 

Address _ _ 

City  - - - - - .  State  — - Zip - 

Telephone  (  ) 

Other  Teaching  Locations  Available  dlYes  dNo 

Store  Name  _ _ , _ 

Address  _ _ _ 

City  - - State  — - -  Zip  - 

Telephone  {  ) 

Will  Teach  At  Student's  Home:  d  Yes  d  No 

Age: - - - - 

Years  Of  Playing: _ _ _ 

Years  Of  Private  Instruction: _ 

Years  Teaching:  _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Formal  Education  (Schools  &  Degrees): 


I  Professional  Experience: 


Books  Or  Articles  Published: 


Levels  Taught: 


Drum  Styles  Taught: 


HU  Beginner 
d  Intermediate 
d  Advanced 

d  Rock 
d  Funk 
d  Show 
d  lobbing 
d  Latin 
□  Symphonic 


□  Jazz 
d  Fusion 
d  Big  Band 
d  Studio 
d  Rudi  mental 
d  Other 


Other  Percussion  Taught: 

d  Timpani  Q  Mallets 
d  Orchestral  Percussion 
d  Latin  Instruments 
d  Other 


Areas  Of  Emphasis: 


Teaching  Aids  Used: 


d  Reading  d  Technique 

d  Coordination 
d  Contemporary  Styles 
d  Other 

d  Video  d  Electronics 

d  Recording  Techniques 
d  Other 


Currently  Teaching:  d  Full-time  d  Part-time 

Average  Number  Of  Students  Taught  Per  Week: _ 

Brochure  Available:  O  Yes  □  No 


/viooeRn 

DRummeR 


■ 

J 


Now 

he 

can. 


Manu  Katche 


Y  A  M  fl  H  fl' 

SYSTEM  D  R  .U  M  S 


t’ripyriglil  Yatnulut  ( WpOfJitron  of  Animcii .  Sytitin.’sij'rr.  f  iiiitac  andTh'imi  I  Jivisimi  .  Aw  .  F^Ui-n;!  Park.  C'A 


ttILEY  continued  don i  page  27 


apc-tuapfc 

•  The  World’s  Class  Drumsticks 


10707  Craighead  Drive  •  Houston,  Tfexas  77025 


713/666-2525 


get  your  act  together.  What  did  that  consist 

of? 

SR:  They  had  to  do  the  photos,  and  I  had  to 
get  outfits.  I  wasn't  into  it,  with  the  horror 
and  making  faces  when  you're  taking  pic¬ 
tures — the  whole  scene  that  went  into 
WASP.  The  hard  part  wasn't  playing  drums 
for  WASP,  but  getting  into  the  vibe  they  put 
off.  It  was  a  crash  course  in  two  weeks. 
First  you're  normal,  and  then  you're  an 
asshole. 

RF:  What  did  you  do  to  get  into  that  vibe? 
Was  it  just,  "Well,  it's  a  job"? 

SR:  I  wanted  it  so  bad,  and  I  knew  what 
they  had  going  for  them.  At  the  time,  I 
really  thought  WASP  had  the  chance  of 
becoming  the  second  Kiss — from  the  way 
the  first  album  sounded,  from  the  press 
they  got,  and  from  their  performance  and 
the  management.  When  they  told  me  I  had 
to  do  all  the  faces  and  everything,  I  thought, 
"Screw  it,  I'll  do  it."  Lessons  on  being  a 
ghoul.  But  I  was  really  impressed  with  the 
way  they  were  running  things,  so  I  made 
that  much  more  of  an  effort. 

RF:  What  did  you  do  to  learn  the  music  in 
two  weeks? 

SR:  Same  thing  as  Keel.  I  got  the  album, 
listened  to  it,  and  rehearsed  my  ass  off  with 
them  until  we  left  for  England.  During  the 
days,  we  did  photo  shoots  and  interviews, 
and  at  night  we  rehearsed  for  eight  hours. 
This  was  for  two  weeks,  so  by  the  time 
England  came  around,  I  was  drained,  and 
it  was  almost  a  pleasure  to  get  on  with  it. 
RF:  Beside  the  vibe  and  the  faces  and  all 
that,  there  was  a  whole  show,  theatrically, 
that  you  had  to  learn.  What  went  into  that 
show? 

SR:  It  was  the  first  time  where  I  played  with 
a  band  that  was  very  organized  on  stage. 
Their  stage  show  was  organized  almost  a 
little  too  much  for  me.  It  got  a  little  bit 
grating  at  the  end  of  my  time  with  WASP.  It 
was  too  precise.  We  were  all  on  cues.  We 
tried  to  run  it  like  a  theatrical  performance, 
where  everything  was  cued  and  Blackie 
would  dictate  the  meter. 

RF:  Explain  the  cues  and  how  he  dictated 
the  meter. 

SR:  We  would  know  where  different  song 
cues  were.  Each  song  was  turned  into  an 
event.  We  would  stretch  the  middle  sec¬ 
tions  out  and  add  new  intros  and  endings, 
and  the  song  would  be  in  there  somewhere. 
We  were  famous  for  our  big  endings.  It  was 
also  the  first  band  where  I  was  really  sing- 

VATER  ' 

PERCUSSION 

Quality  Custom  Label  Drumsticks 
STORE  NAME'S  AND  LOGO’S 
Tei.  #  617-767-1877  FAX:  617-767-0010 

PLEASE  SEE  CLASSIFIED 


ddrum 

Heal  drums  never  sounded  so  good . 
Digital  drums  never  felt  so  good. 
25  Ltndeman  Drive 
Trumbull,  CT  06611 

(203)  374-0020 


ing.  I  had  a  prominent  singing  part  in  the 
background,  so  that  was  a  different  thing. 
RF:  Did  that  affect  your  playing? 

SR:  It  did  in  a  way,  because  I  don't  sing 
anymore.  I  could  do  it,  but  I  really  had  to 
bear  down  and  concentrate,  and  watch 
Blackie  dictate  the  meter,  too.  How  he  felt 
that  night  would  dictate  how  fast  this  thing 
would  go.  His  arm  would  go  in  a  down¬ 
ward  motion  when  he  wanted  to  slow  the 
meter  down.  When  he  wanted  to  bring  it 
up  and  he  felt  he  had  to  get  that  crowd 
going,  he  would  go  on  an  upward  motion 
with  his  back  towards  me.  So  I'm  singing, 
playing  the  drums,  and  also  watching  this 
dude  run  around  dictating  the  meter.  We 
beefed  about  that  a  lot. 

At  first  I  was  really  impressed  because 
Blackie  was  so  organized,  but  the  biggest 
mistake  he  made  was  firing  the  guitar  player, 
Randy  Piper.  It  was  a  stupid  reason  that 
had  nothing  to  do  with  the  band  or  the 
music.  Randy  was  really  important  to  WASP 
to  keep  the  connection  with  the  kids,  and 
Blackie  fired  this  guy.  Then  Blackie  dropped 
the  bass  and  gave  it  to  Johnny  Rod,  and 
started  playing  guitar  again.  It  was  not  a 
band  anymore.  He  was  making  all  the  de¬ 
cisions.  He  was  doing  all  the  album  cov¬ 
ers.  It  said  "WASP,"  but  it  was  his  face,  and 
he  was  doing  all  the  interviews.  He  would 
come  to  rehearsal  all  pissed  off  because  he 
had  been  working  all  day,  so  during  the 
second  world  tour,  I  said,  "Why  are  you 
doing  all  this  single-handedly?  Why  don't 
you  spread  it  out  a  little  bit,  which  will  take 
some  of  the  pressure  off  of  you  and  get  the 
band  involved  so  we  look  like  a  unit?"  He 
didn't  dig  that  at  all;  he  didn't  want  anyone 
to  challenge  him.  I  knew  I  was  out  of  there 
sooner  or  later.  I  knew  it  wasn't  going  to  be 
the  big  dream  I  had;  it  wasn't  going  to  be 
Kiss,  Part  II. 

Blackie  started  hinting  that  he  wanted  to 
go  solo.  I  was  already  looking  for  some¬ 
thing  else,  although  I  wasn't  making  it  real 
out  front.  I  was  just  keeping  my  ear  to  the 
ground.  It  was  kind  of  a  disappointment 
that  I  had  to  be  looking  again,  because  I 
realized  that  WASP  wasn't  going  to  do  it.  It 
was  a  reality  check.  It  was,  "I  can't  believe 
I'm  looking  for  another  gig!"  Blackie  was 
more  or  less  bullshitting  me.  He  said  he 
wanted  to  make  a  change,  and  then  I  got 
the  gist  of  it.  I  said,  "Oh,  I  see  what  you're 
saying.  You  want  me  out  of  the  band,"  and 
he  came  clean  and  said,  "Yeah,  that's  it."  I 


said,  "You  know,  I'm  an  equal  member  of 
this  band  and  you  can't  kick  me  out  of  it," 
although  I  was  really  digging  that  I  was 
out.  I  went  to  the  management  and  they 
said,  "These  things  happen."  I  just  said, 
"You  know  I'm  going  to  go  on  and  I'm 
going  to  see  you  down  the  road,  and  I'm 
going  to  be  doing  something  bigger  than 
this  thing.  I'll  see  you  in  another  day."  And 
I  did  see  him  in  another  day.  Iron  Maiden 
needed  an  opening  act  at  the  Forum,  and 
they  asked  LA.  Guns,  not  WASP.  The  man¬ 
ager  was  there  with  Iron  Maiden,  so  I  saw 
him  down  the  road. 

RF:  Did  you  come  out  ahead  in  the  WASP 
venture? 

SR:  I  made  money,  but  I  lost  money  in 


WASP,  too.  Blackie  was  running  the  whole 
thing,  and  he  kept  the  overhead  so 
enormous  that  we  were  continuously  dig¬ 
ging  a  hole.  WASP  was  a  production  deal, 
too,  so  it  wasn't  set  up  like  a  regular  record 
deal  where  the  four  members  of  the  band 
were  signed  to  Capitol  directly.  We  went 
through  the  management  company,  who 
had  a  production  company,  and  because 
of  their  success  with  Iron  Maiden,  they  were 
able  to  get  a  lot  more  money  out  of  Capitol 
than  WASP  would  have  alone.  But  I  learned 
that  most  of  the  time  it  is  better  to  be  signed 
to  that  label  yourself,  not  the  production 
company.  In  that  situation,  the  production 
company  comes  out  ahead  because  they 
get  to  distribute  the  money.  Even  though  I 


S' THE  ESSENTIAL  MALLET PLAYER\ 
by  Ed  Mann 

Modal,  tonal,  and  technical  concepts 
for  maflef  players  &  other  instrumental¬ 
ists  at  all  levels.  Send  $9.95  to:  Monad 
l  Publishing,  Box  55022,  Valencia,  CA  , 
V  USA  91365 _ / 


ddrum 

THE  WORLD  LEADER 
IN  DIGITAL  SAMPLING 
25  Lindeman  Drive 
Trumbull,  CT  06611 

(203)  374-0020 


TODAY'S  SOUNDS 
PUT  NEW  IDEAS 
INTO  OUR  HEADS. 


I  Take  a  look -and  listen! 

[U]  Whatever  your  choice  in 

lllrv  sound  Remo  has  the  Sound 
m  Choice-  Today  s  tom  tom 

AC  sound  is  Remo  Clear  Emperor 
HJ  —big.  open,  resonant  and 

^  tough  For  today  $  crisp,  dry 
fk  snare  drum  sound,  it's  the 

HI1V  Remo  CS  Coated  iwth  Black 
Dot  underneath!.  And.  try 
QurPinStnpe  Coated  bass  drum  head -solid 
and  warm  with  superb  promotion— along  with 
our  full  range  of  PinStnpe  batters  that  have 
become  the  standard  around  the  world  Drum 
h  eads  by  d  ru  m  me  r$,  to  r  dru  m  mer  s 
\  .  v  The  Remo  difference 


HEMP,  INC..' 

12804' Fviyi per  Si.-.-Tlo  Holly w 


71 


was  in  the  band  and  owned  a  quarter,  I 
was  a  secondary  player  as  far  as  the  money 
coming  in.  So  it  was  another  lesson  to  keep 
your  eyes  open  on  the  business  side  too, 
otherwise  you  can  make  a  lot  of  money  but 
you  won't  get  it.  WASP  was  a  classic  case 
of  that. 

RF:  What  happened  after  WASP? 

SR:  I  went  right  over  to  S.I.R.  with  my  drums 
to  start  playing  every  day  again.  I  rented 
the  small  room  for  about  $12.00  an  hour 
for  four  hours  a  day,  three  days  a  week.  I'd 
go  in  there  and  just  play  by  myself,  and 
Tracii  [Guns]  and  these  guys  were  rehears¬ 
ing  next  door.  It  was  identical  to  the  WASP 
situation,  because  they  had  just  finished 
their  first  album  and  were  kicking  their 


drummer  out.  Tracii  knew  me  for  years  and 
he  said,  "Would  you  want  to  do  this?"  It 
was  a  big  step  backwards  from  what  I  had 
been  doing.  I  just  mean  from  the  stand¬ 
point  that  these  guys  were  going  to  play 
clubs  around  here.  They  didn't  have  a  tour, 
they  had  very  weak  management,  and  I 
had  to  sit  down  and  think  about  it.  I  really 
liked  the  band,  and  I  thought  they  were 
going  to  be  happening,  but  it  was  a  scary 
time  when  I  joined.  That  was  in  '87,  and  I 
went  from  headlining  the  Long  Beach  Arena 
in  March  with  WASP  to  playing  the  Trou¬ 
badour  four  months  later. 

RF:  Musically  how  did  you  feel? 

SR:  Much  better.  They  let  me  open  up  in 
this  band.  My  drumming  in  WASP  was 


Piccolo  Snare  Drum 

Slardord  Snare  Drum 

Deep  S^Ksna  Drum 

SftOrfi  Drtjm  Edge 

Soars  Drum  Center 

Snare  Drum  Himshot 

Cymbal  Bell 

Ride  Cymbal  (Middle] 

Crash  Cymbal  {Edge] 

Cowbell 

Timbale  Center 

Timbale  Eimshoi 

RIM  1 


PAD 


RIM  2 


T he  ' Minimalist '  electronic 
drum  pad  that  lets  you 
maximize  your  acoustic 
drum  sticking  techniques." 

Terry  Bozzio 

Based  on  the  drumpads  Terry  designed 
used  during  his  breakthrough  work  with 
"Missing  Persons/'  the  7BX-3  features: 

3  separate  dynamically  sensitive  triggering 
areas  (Rim  I,  PadandPiVn  2)  in  o  compadye/ 
functional  configuration  fhaf  allows  utilization 
of  acoustic  drumming  techniques  fi.e.  trigger¬ 
ing  multiple  sounds  from  one  insfrumen/j. 

7BX-3/Tngger-To-5ound  Source  routing  suggestions; 


Rim  1 


1  Patented  Sensor  Isolation/Shock  Mount¬ 
ing  System  provides  comfortable  stick 
response  while  eliminating  cross-talk 
and  accurately  trigger¬ 
ing  drum-to-MIDi  con - 
verters,  non-MDl 
drum  machines  and 
Rim  2  °^rLrm  controllers. 

■  Universal  mounting 
>fer  for  convenient  placement  in  a 
variety  of  drum  and  percussion  set-ups. 
Available  only  of  authorized  DW  dealers . 

A  X  Drum  Workshop,  trie. 

2697UtvmryCt*  #T6 
Newbury  Pa  rk,  CA  9 1 320 


pretty  structured  to  the  way  Blackie  heard 
it.  The  whole  band  was  structured  to  him. 
Even  in  pre-production  for  the  albums  or 
the  tours,  I  played  licks,  fills — not  all,  but 
75% — to  what  he  was  hearing.  When  I 
joined  L.A.  Guns,  they  liked  my  drumming 
and  said,  "Open  up." 

RF:  What  exactly  do  you  mean  by  "open 
up"? 

SR:  They  said,  "No  boundaries,  just  play 
the  way  you  play.  Play  what  you  hear" — 
even  when  we  played  the  song  from  the 
first  album,  which  I  wasn't  on.  It  was  like 
letting  me  out  of  the  cage!  Freedom  city! 
On  the  second  album,  they  let  me  go  wild. 
RF:  In  what  areas  did  you  have  more  crea¬ 
tive  freedom? 

SR:  The  songwriting,  definitely — the  five  of 
us  wrote  all  the  songs  together.  We  would 
bring  in  pieces  and  put  them  together.  It's 
the  first  time  I've  been  in  a  band  like  that.  I 
think  it  was  a  blessing  coming  from  WASP 
because  these  guys  were  fans  of  theirs  and 
they  really  admired  me  from  there.  So  there 
was  a  little  respect  built  in.  When  they 
brought  in  pieces,  they  just  let  me  go  on 
them — fills,  endings,  beginnings,  every¬ 
thing. 

RF:  How  do  you  compose  the  parts  you 
bringin? 

SR:  I'm  left-handed  and  I  play  drums  right- 
handed,  so  I'm  ambidextrous.  I  play  right- 
handed  drums,  but  I  play  left-handed  bass. 
I'm  just  learning  howto  play  bass.  I  can  get 
the  root  of  the  note  down  and  show  the 
band  that  way.  I  think  about  a  song  in  my 
head  and  I  sit  down  with  Tracii  or  Mick, 
one  of  the  guitar  players,  and  I  sing  the 
actual  progression  to  them  and  have  them 
play  it  back  to  me,  and  we'll  put  it  down 
like  that.  "Give  A  Little"  is  one  that  I  wrote 
in  the  Bzz  in  Chicago;  it's  something  I  just 
always  had. 

RF:  Why  did  you  play  right-handed  drums? 
SR:  It's  the  way  most  drummers  play.  Back 
when  I  started,  I  don't  think  there  were 
many  left-handed  drummers,  and  the 
people  I  was  looking  at — Krupa,  Rich, 
Ringo,  Charlie  Watts,  Ginger  Baker,  and 
Cozy  Cole — were  right-handed,  so  I  auto- 


ddrum 

THE  WORLD  LEADER 
IN  DIGITAL  SAMPLING 
25  Lindeman  Drive 
Trumbull,  CT  06611 

(203)  374-0020 


S&H'AaA 

“  Music  Dealer  Of  The  Year” 

Voted  by  Members  Of  The  Music  Industry  In  The 
“Third  Annuel  Music  A  Sound  Awards* 


liSusic  stores 


MUSIC  • SOUND  » COMPUTERS 


10  Branches  In  and  s  round  New  York  City 
TALK  TO  ONE  OF  OUR  EXPERTS 
iN  ELECTRONIC  AND  ACOUSTIC  DRUMMING 

TERRY  BISSETTE  {201)  572-5595 

SAM  JONES  {201)  843-0119 

MARKO  SOCCOU  {21 2)  719-2625 

evaae  sm  fejucewp.  I 


72 


matically  played  that  way.  I  wrote  left- 
handed,  but  I  never  thought  about  playing 
anything  but  right-handed. 

RF:  Were  there  any  difficult  tracks  on  this 
album? 

SR:  The  ones  where  I  really  had  to  bear 
down  were  "Malaria"  and  "Magdalaine." 
Those  are  the  two  long  songs  on  the  al¬ 
bum.  We  didn't  want  to  write  a  safe  album 
this  time.  The  first  album  they  did  was  pretty 
safe;  there  were  11  tunes  that  could  have 
easily  been  singles.  We  knew  we  had  to 
deliver  at  least  six  or  seven  of  that  type  of 
song  this  time,  but  we  wanted  a  couple  of 
epics  that  had  ups  and  downs  in  them,  and 
they're  just  structured  differently  than  a 
radio  song.  "Magdalaine"  is  sort  of  like 
Zeppelin's  "Achilles  Last  Stand,"  and  "Ma¬ 
laria"  is  almost  structured  like  Aerosmith's 
"Sweet  Emotion,"  but  it's  a  real  long  piece 
because  the  middle  section  breaks  down 
and  we  have  tons  of  percussion  going  on. 
Then  it  goes  back  to  the  song  and  breaks 
down  again  for  this  other  percussion  sec¬ 
tion. 

RF:  What  did  you  use  on  the  percussion 
breakdown? 

SR:  A  number  of  percussive  instruments, 
from  woodblocks  to  shakers  to  RotoToms 
to  timbales — you  name  it.  What  we  wanted 
to  do  was  have  just  the  kick  drum  keeping 
the  meter,  and  everything  else  layered  on 
top  of  it.  Tracii  is  using  a  number  of  guitar 
special  effects  too.  It  was  fun. 

RF:  How  are  you  going  to  do  that  live? 

SR:  We  obviously  won't  have  as  many  in¬ 
struments  going  at  the  same  time,  but  I'm 
going  to  improvise  in  that  section  and  do 
something  different  for  the  live  show,  some¬ 
thing  just  as  exciting. 

RF:  How  do  you  get  the  drum  sounds  you 
want? 

SR:  I  use  all  acoustic  drums.  I  have  tried  all 
the  electronics,  from  Simmons  and  Dyna- 
cord,  etc.  I  don't  put  any  of  those  systems 
down,  but  they're  not  right  for  me.  I  have 
tried  every  option  a  soundman  could  bring 
to  me  to  enhance  the  sound,  but  my  drums 
are  really  big,  and  I  tune  them  really  wide 
open.  There's  not  a  lot  of  tape  or  pads  on 


ddrum 

Real  drums  never  sounded  so  good. 
Digital  drums  never  feft  so  good . 
25  Lindeman  Drive 
Trumbull,  CT  06611 

(203)  374-0020 


REPRINTS  of  most 
MD  Feature  Articles 
and  columns  ARE 
available!  Call  the 
office  for  a 
price  quote 


my  drums,  and  my  snare  drum  is  not  trig¬ 
gered  at  all,  and  it  stands  up  to  any  drum 
that  is  triggered.  I  mean,  I  never  heard 
Buddy  Rich  or  John  Bonham  with  triggers. 
I've  experimented  with  a  bunch  of  Tama 
models,  and  I'm  playing  the  Artstar  II  right 
now. 

RF:  Double  bass? 

SR:  I  was  playing  double  bass  in  the  last 
three  bands  I  was  in,  but  I'm  back  to  single 
kick,  and  it's  great.  It's  so  comfortable.  And 
I  have  one  rack  tom,  two  floor  toms,  and 
not  a  lot  of  cymbals,  so  it's  back  to  being 
basic. 

RF:  Was  there  an  adjustment  going  from 
double  bass  to  single  bass? 

SR:  Mat  all,  because  I  really  had  the 


double  kick  set  up  for  looks.  I  didn't  really 
play  it  that  much.  I'd  use  it  in  the  drum 
solo,  but  never  for  any  licks.  I've  always 
played  single  kick,  with  the  ride  cymbal 
mounted  on  the  bass  drum,  and  with  the 
one  rack  tom — the  Buddy  Rich  setup — and 
it's  so  comfortable.  I  am  going  to  do  a 
drum  break  this  year,  and  I  wanted  to  do 
something  different,  but  I  wanted  to  stay 
acoustic,  so  I  bought  a  timpani  and  I'm 
going  to  incorporate  it  into  my  drum  solo. 
It's  acoustic,  but  I  can  get  pitches  that  sound 
electronic  out  of  it.  It  has  the  footpedal  on 
it,  so  I  can  adjust  the  tension  and  get  a  lot 
of  deep  and  high  tones  out  of  it,  but  still 
stay  in  the  acoustic  mold. 

RF:  Aside  from  "Malaria"  and  "Magdalaine," 


follows  up  his  DCI 
video  debut,  Back  To  Basics , 
with  the  long  awaited  release  of 
77ie  Next  Step. 


The  Next  Step-take  it! 


Please  add  $4.00  shipping  and  handling  per  order  ($5.00 
per  tape  outside  the  liS,). 

N  V.  Slate  residents  add  B,25%  sales  lax.  PAL  a  va  liable  - 
add  S6.Q0  AOnw  2-3  weeks  for  delivery. 

Make  check  or  money  order  payable  to: 

DOE  Music  Video 
541  Avenue  of  the  Americas 
Mow  York  NY  10011 
Nome 


Address 


City _ 

QVw 

Cent# 


Signature 

To  order  by  phone  (Visa/MC}  call: 
1-800-342-4500  (N.Y.  State  212-691-1884) 

In  Canada:  Must  he  paid  with  International  Money 
Order  or  check  drawn  on  U.S,  hank 
In  Europe:  Music  Mail  Ltd.,  142  Cromwell  Rd.. 
London  SW7  4EF,  tel  01-857-6309 

MD  01/90 


Please  send  me: 

O  TlwItotSttp  Q  VHS  Q  Bela 

O  Bicfcte'Bwiw  Q  VHS  Q  Bela 

O  Contemporary  Drummer  +  One  (audio) 


$39.95 

$39.95 

$32,95 


which  are  your  favorites  on  the  album? 

SR:  We  already  have  the  singles  picked 
out.  One  is  "Rip  And  Tear,"  which  is  just  a 
straightforward  rocker.  We  want  to  make 
sure  we  nail  our  core  audience.  Once  we 
have  them  back  in  our  camp  again,  we 
want  to  release  something  like  "It's  Never 
Enough,"  which  is  a  song  that  is  L.A.  Guns 
right  to  the  "T,"  but  the  vocals  and  the 
harmonies  bring  it  to  another  level.  It'll  get 
much  more  radio  play  than  anything  we've 
ever  done.  It's  sort  of  structured  for  the 
wider  audience.  We  don't  want  to  just  get 
on  Headbangers  Ball.  We  want  to  get  on 
heavy  rotation,  and  the  only  way  to  do  that 
is  by  thinking  about  structuring  the  songs 
that  way.  A  lot  of  people  will  say  that  we're 


selling  out  to  get  on  heavy  rotation,  but  it's 
not  that  at  all,  because  we're  happy  with  it. 
It's  something  we  did  purposely  to  get  more 
mass  appeal. 

RF:  Are  you  the  official  leader  of  the  band? 
SR:  Yes,  but  when  I  say  "leader,"  it's  not 
like  I'm  the  boss.  I  make  sure  that  the  band 
gets  taken  care  of  all  the  time.  I've  been 
through  so  many  record  deals  that  I  know 
when  something  is  right  and  when  it's  not. 
I'm  not  bragging,  but  I  found  out  the  hard 
way,  so  I  do  most  of  the  business  for  the 
band.  I  do  all  the  contacts  with  the  man¬ 
ager,  the  business  manager,  and  the  attor¬ 
neys,  you  name  it.  It's  only  because  I'm 
more  experienced  at  it  than  they  are. 
They're  all  younger  than  I  am,  and  for  three 


flint* 65  Hawn.  Woiiitici 


I  personally  stand  behind 
eveiy  LP®  product. 
That’s  why  1  put  my  name 
on  the  label.” 

J,  began  Latin  Percussion  over  25  years  ago  because  of  my  deep  love  for 
Latin  music.  In  the  beginning,  there  was  no  percussion  industry. 

I  custom-made  products  for  my  friends,  many  of  whom  were  also  my 
idols.  Satisfying  their  needs  forced  me  to  refine  and  improve  my  products. 
Sometimes  I  even  had  to  invent  instruments  for  them  -  Vibra-Slap®  and 
Afuche/Cabasa^  are  just  two  such  examples. 

I  did  my  research  in  NYC  dance  halls  and  recording  studios,  using 
leading  percussionists.  Through  their  feedback,  I  began  to  build  a  line  of 
products;  congas,  bongos,  timbales,  cuicas  and  cowbells  of  every  descrip¬ 
tion.  LP“s  product  line  continues  to  expand  to  fulfill  the  changing  needs 
of  the  world's  percussionists.  What  hasn't  changed  over  the  years,  is  my 
love  for  the  music  and  my  determination  to  produce  percussion  instru¬ 
ments  of  the  highest  quality.  I  personally  stand  behind  every  LP^rodi 
That's  why  I  put  my  name  on  the  label. 


JT,  LATIN  PERCUSSION,  INC. 

160  Belmont  Ave.,  Dept.  600,  Garfield.  NJ  07026  USA 
Send  $3  for  full  color  catalog  and  latest  newsletter 


art  in  c  onteq 
President 


of  them,  it's  their  first  record  deal. 

RF:  If  you  had  the  gig  of  your  dreams,  what 
would  that  be? 

SR:  Remember  I  was  talking  about  that  solo 
album  I'd  like  to  do?  That's  the  gig  of  my 
dreams.  It  would  probably  be  an  instru¬ 
mental  gig,  and  it  would  probably  be  some¬ 
thing  like  Jeff  Beck  did  with  Blow  By  Blow 
and  Wired  or  something  like  Chick  Corea 
did  with  Return  To  Forever.  I'm  looking  for 
something  that  challenges  me,  and  that's 
where  I'm  ultimately  going  to  end  up,  some¬ 
thing  that  is  instrumental  with  musicians 
who  are  the  best  at  each  position.  It's  not  to 
take  anything  away  from  any  of  the  bands 
I've  been  with  or  L.A.  Guns,  but  it's  like  I'll 
be  on  the  tour  bus  and  everybody  will  be 
listening  to  all  the  rock  shit,  and  I'll  plug  in 
something  like  Wired.  There  are  no  vocals, 
and  everybody  is  just  wailing  on  their  in¬ 
struments,  and  a  lot  of  rock  musicians  aren't 
into  that.  I  really  feel  like  I'll  have  to  do 
that.  I  feel  that  rock  is  a  job.  I  enjoy  it  to  a 
certain  point  as  a  musician  and  business- 
wise,  but  in  the  stuff  I  want  to  do,  I'm  not 
going  to  make  a  lot  of  money.  I'm  already 
into  this  up  to  my  neck,  so  I  might  as  well 
try  to  make  some  money  so  I  can  get  to  the 
point  where  I  want  to  go.  And  in  the  mean¬ 
time,  I'll  enjoy  it.  [«&»] 


ddrum 

THE  WORLD  LEADER 
IN  DIGITAL  SAMPLING 
25  Lindeman  Drive 
Trumbull,  CT  06611 

(203)  374-0020 


("An  important  new  concept  that  increases  the 
potential  tor  the  feet  in  modern  music. M  —  Jim  Chapin 


THE  TRAVELING  LEFT  FOOT  voi.i 


Rock  Jazz,  and  Latin  Patterns  Using  Two 
Bass  Drums  and  the  Hi-Hat  Simultaneously 

By  Joe  Syrian 


Book  I:  $15.00,  Book.  II:  $15.00  «d  $2.w  s  &  h  (per  «deit 

Send  to  EMPIRE  GROUP 

P.O.  Box  4414,  Dearborn,  Ml  48126-0414 


'  DRUM 
CATALOG 


C*LL|  (2 19)  272-8266 
50741  U.S.  31  N.,  South  Bend, 

i  -■■■ 


74 


Since  the  introduction  of 
the  hi-hat  there  hasn’t 
been  any  real  change  in 
the  most  important  facia  of 
the  hi-hat;  the  action.  Until 
now. 

lama's  new  Lever  Glide 
system  represents  a  real  hi-hat 
revolution  and  we’re  not  using 
that  over  used  word  lightly. 

A  patented  lever  system 
has  finally  brought  together 
tin1  opposing  hi-hat 
needs  of  an  easy 


downward  motion  and  a  lightning 
quick  return.  Along  with  our  acclaimed 
3  stage  tension  adjust  system,  \ 
anything  from  the  subtlest  \ 
and  sensitive  to  die  brutally 
rapid  is  now  possible.  //U 

The  Lever  Glide  system  is  *  ^ 
now  the  lama  standard  and  we 
consider  it  important  enough  to  make 
k\  it  available  in  models  for  every  drum- 
T  ,  mer:  cable,  double  and  single  braced, 
legless  and  (lie  amazing  I II  HJ'l.  The 
X\  1 11193  has  the  TAMA  till  system 
for  lilting  at  any  angle  plus  the 


Swivel  Foot  System  which  allows 
the  foot  pedal  to  rotate  around  the 
tripod  base. 

You  owe  it  to  yourself  to  Hud  out 
how  much  of  a  hi-hat  revolution  the 
Lever  Glide  system  really  is.  Visit 
your  authorized  Tama  dealer 


J“Vn*  MUCK  iriftimiHtidn  on  TAMA  ( lsirdw;irc+  jiIinim* 
wrilr  u*.  Ti.itfi,  Dept.  MODI).  HO  tt»x  HHli.  Ren- 
Niilem.  HA  IHDJd  *  >2il  lVn<ltiri*r  Wav,  [Vmnmn.  CA 

mim-mv*  *  m  iw  imi  kinho  Liik  id  h>m n. 

In  <  numb  >|(n  Ritli  Avt\,  Qudxf.  Cnnndn 

1WT2HL 


ON  TAPE 


PETER  ERSKINE 
Everything  Is  Timekeeping 
DCI  Music  Video 
541  Avenue  Of  The  Americas 
New  York  NY  10011 
Time:  85  minutes 
Price:  $49.95  (VHS/Beta) 

DCI's  latest  treat  is  a  video,  with  ac¬ 
companying  booklet,  featuring  the 
always  fascinating  drumming  of  Pe¬ 
ter  Erskine  in  jazz  trio  and  solo  set¬ 
tings.  The  trio — John  Abercrombie  on 
guitar  and  Marc  Johnson  on  acoustic 
bass — is  a  superb  setting  in  which  to 
highlight  Erskine's  diverse  palette.  And 
the  several  solo  segments  are  drum¬ 
ming  gems  of  cohesive  concept  and 
technical  virtuosity.  His  "Latin 
Groove"  solo  is  guaranteed  to  wow 
you,  and  the  concluding  solo  of  the  tape  is  a  masterly  example  of 
texture  and  theme  development. 

Erskine's  tutoring  style  is  amiable,  concise,  and  informative.  He 
brings  out  the  details  of  technique  while  maintaining  the  impor¬ 
tance  of  a  holistic  approach:  Ideas,  expression,  and  drawing  from 
personal  experience  are  all  essential  ingredients  for  successful 
results.  Topics  discussed  and  demonstrated  include  ride  cymbal 
concepts  and  technique,  tempo  concepts,  basic  jazz  independ¬ 
ence/coordination  exercises  (transcribed  in  the  booklet),  pedal 
technique,  improvisation,  and  brush  technique.  (Brush-stroke  pat¬ 
tern  diagrams  are  also  in  the  booklet.)  One  musical  highlight  is  the 
trio's  performance  of  Erskine's  composition  "Sweet  Soul."  The 
ultra-slow  tune  is  used  to  demonstrate  concentrated  control  of 
tempo  and  the  importance  of  allowing  space.  The  trio  also  cooks 
through  some  uptempo  straight-ahead  jazz  numbers,  turns  in  some 
beautiful  ballad  playing,  and  shines  especially  strong  on 
Abercrombie's  haunting  and  lyrical  "Ralph's  Piano  Waltz." 

The  video's  level  is  listed  as  "beginner  to  pro,"  and  in  the  ride 
cymbal  section,  Erskine  enlightens  us  with  an  observation  proving 
once  again  that  back-to-basics  re-evaluations  are  often  eye  open¬ 
ers  for  even  the  most  advanced  musicians.  He  recalls  listening  to 
some  of  his  early  recordings  and  discovering  that  the  cuts  weren't 
truly  swinging.  The  ride  cymbal  beat,  he  decided,  was  the  culprit. 
Changing  his  approach  to  this  same  traditional  jazz  ride  cymbal 
beat,  as  he  clearly  demonstrates,  resulted  in  a  great  improvement 
of  clarity  and  feel.  This  kind  of  sagely  advice  is  worth  more  than 
100  chops-building  exercises.  Everything  Is  Timekeeping  is  worthy 
of  many  viewings,  especially  the  performance  segments,  and  while 
you're  digesting  it  all,  you  will  be  happy  to  know  that  Part  II  is 
expected  from  DCI  soon. 

—Jeff  Potter 


HOW  TO  PLAY  DRUMS 

FROM  DAY  ONE 

With  Jim  Payne 

DCI  Music  Video 

541  Avenue  Of  The  Americas 

New  York  NY  10011 

Time:  54  minutes 

Price:  $29.95  (VHS/Beta) 

How  To  Play  Drums  From  Day  One  is, 
as  the  title  suggests,  a  video  for  the  very 
beginning  drummer.  The  basic  method 
teacher  Jim  Payne  utilizes  on  this  tape  is 
one  where  the  player  vocalizes  different 
sounds  for  each  drum  or  cymbal,  and  for 
different  combinations.  For  example,  a 
snare  hit  is  vocalized  as  "a,"  a  hi-hat  is 
"pic,"  and  a  hi-hat  and  snare  hit  simulta¬ 


neously  is  sounded  out  as  "pac."  By  vocalizing  simple  beats  and 
techniques,  suggests  Payne,  students  are  able  to  grasp  these  con¬ 
cepts  more  quickly. 

Topics  that  the  video  covers  include  advice  on  how  to  buy 
equipment,  how  to  hold  drumsticks,  single  strokes,  open  hi-hat 
sounds,  simple  rock  'n'  roll,  blues,  funk,  and  shuffle  beats,  reading 
drum  notation,  fills,  and  two-hand  hi-hat  style.  Payne  demon¬ 
strates  the  various  subjects  with  and  without  (unfortunately  rather 
cheap-sounding)  keyboard  accompaniment,  and  the  entire  tape 
can  be  followed  along  using  the  included  booklet.  Payne's  vocal¬ 
izing  system  seems  like  it  would  work  very  well.  (The  booklet's 
liner  notes  say  that  the  method  was  inspired  by  the  vocal  tradition 
of  Indian  tabla  instruction.)  Payne  seems  very  comfortable  in  front 
of  the  camera,  his  presence  and  delivery  are  clear,  and  his  fre¬ 
quent  referrals  to  the  written  notation  both  in  the  booklet  and  on 
the  tape  are  very  beneficial.  One  note  about  the  booklet:  The 
musical  example  of  a  basic  shuffle  beat  on  page  33  seems  to  have 
been  mistakenly  replaced  by  a  duplicate  of  the  two-hand  hi-hat 
pattern  on  page  35.  An  example  of  a  medium  blues  shuffle  is 
correctly  shown  on  page  34.  Aside  from  this,  though,  the  booklet 
is  quite  lucid  and  helpful,  one  nice  inclusion  being  suggestions  of 
popular  songs  where  some  of  the  beats  that  are  covered  can  be 
heard. 

Overall,  How  To  Play  Drums  From  Day  One  is  an  excellent 
introduction  to  drumset  playing.  It  moves  along  at  a  nice  pace, 
covers  a  good  deal  of  territory,  offers  several  different  camera 
angles  of  each  example  covered,  and  is  hosted  by  a  very  capable 
clinician  in  the  person  of  Jim  Payne.  This  is  one  case  where  a 
sequel  should  be  highly  anticipated. 

— Adam  Budofsky 

DAVE  WECKL 
The  Next  Step 
DCI  Music  Video 
541  Avenue  Of  The  Americas 
New  York  NY  10011 
Time:  80  minutes 
Price:  $39.95  (VHS/BETA) 

Dave  Weckl's  The  Next  Step  is  a 
follow-up  to  his  impressive  video 
debut,  Back  To  Basics.  In  this  chock- 
full  80  minutes,  master  Dave  dis¬ 
cusses  and  demonstrates  his  wares 
in  a  clear,  well-organized  format. 
As  is  usual  with  DCI  videos,  it's  pre¬ 
sented  in  a  no-nonsense  style  with 
quality  audio  and  a  merciful  avoid¬ 
ance  of  any  distracting  clever  cam¬ 
era  or  editing  techniques.  The  vari¬ 
ous  camera  angles  are  used  to  their 
best  advantage,  focusing  on  the 

The  first  segment,  "Time  Playing,"  concerns  internalizing  of 
subdivisions,  the  importance  of  a  drummer's  count-off,  pulse  nu¬ 
ance,  and  pointers  on  the  different  approaches  required  for  play¬ 
ing  with  a  lone  click  track  versus  playing  with  a  sequencer.  Dave's 
jazzy  solo  here,  exemplifying  practicing  over  a  click  with  loose 
phrasing,  is  a  beauty. 

The  ever-popular  topic  of  "Groove  Playing"  is  a  segment  also 
offering  good  tips.  Dave  demonstrates  the  hi-hat  method  of  rock¬ 
ing  the  sticks  from  shoulder  to  tip  for  pulse-enhancing  dynamic 
gradations.  In  discussing  "Creating  The  Part,"  he  demonstrates  two 
valid  approaches  to  the  same  pre-recorded  track.  But  the  most  fun 
in  this  section  is  his  demonstration  of  the  technique  that  he  and 
Chick  Corea  have  dubbed  "playing  backwards."  This  ear  teaser 
involves  consistent  time  displacement  of  a  particular  pattern.  Start¬ 
ing  from  simple  examples,  Dave  expands  the  idea  within  a  tune  to 
prove  that,  yes,  it  really  can  be  used  musically  rather  than  just  as  a 
pedantic  exercise. 


KIM  HUE 

EVERVTj pS  [S  TlMEJEEEEiaiL. 

W1TH 

.  .  JOHN  AIJERCHOMHir 

X\tsr)  MAKC  JOHNSON 


76 


MODERN  DRUMMER 


"Odd  Time  Playing"  is  an  especially  helpful  and  practical  sec¬ 
tion  that  teaches  howto  more  easily  feel  5,  7,  and  9  meters  and,  as 
might  be  expected,  the  "Soloing"  section  is  a  dazzler.  The  focus 
here  is  the  different  approaches  that  should  be  considered  when 
playing  within  the  very  different  contexts  of  soloing  totally  a  Cap- 
pella,  over  a  comp,  or  within  a  piece  of  music.  A  set  of  exercises 
are  outlined  that  break  down  the  basics  of  the  alternating  hand-to- 
foot  triplet  and  16th-note  licks  that  play  so  prominently  in  the  tom 
fill  sound  found  in  the  Erskine/Gadd/Weckl  school. 

Many  of  the  pre-taped  tracks  over  which  Dave  plays  live  are 
taken  from  his  DCI  cassette  and  book  package,  Contemporary 
Drummer  +  One.  For  those  who  have  studied  that  material,  this 
video  will  shed  further  light  on  the  execution  of  those  tracks.  A 
video  picture  is  worth  a  thousand  words  in  this  worthwhile  re¬ 
lease,  and  the  playing  segments  are  surely  the  highlights.  Let's 
hope  that  The  Next  Step  is  but  one  stride  towards  many  more. 

—Jeff  Potter 

LESDeMERLE 
ROCK/FUSION  DRUM 
SET  APPLICATIONS: 

COMPLETE  LESSON 
PACKAGE/M 
M&K  Productions 
818  Green  Ridge  Circle 
Langhome  PA  1 9047 
Time:  78  minutes 
Price:  $39.95 

This  is  a  combination  videotape- 
and-book  package  that  presents 
the  playing  style  and  concepts 
of  Les  DeMerle  in  an  entertain¬ 
ing  and  educational  manner. 
Well-produced  in  terms  of  mul¬ 
tiple  camera  angles,  splitscreens, 
good  sound,  etc.,  the  tape  fea¬ 
tures  Les  in  three  formats:  an 
interview/discussion  setup  with 
producer  Kevin  Gazzara,  in 
conversation  and  demonstrations  directed  at  the  viewer,  and  in 
performance  with  his  band,  Transfusion.  The  accompanying  book 
offers  transcriptions  of  the  exercises  and  concepts  that  Les  demon¬ 
strates,  along  with  charts  from  the  various  tunes  performed  with 
the  band.  Everything  is  clear,  straightforward,  and  easy  to  work 
with. 

In  terms  of  educational  content,  Les  offers  tips  on  how  to  incor¬ 
porate  rudimental  chops  and  finger  technique  into  drumset  play¬ 
ing,  focusing  especially  on  roll-and-paradiddle  combinations  that 
can  be  used  musically  on  the  kit.  He  goes  on  to  demonstrate  a 
large  number  of  what  he  calls  "rock/fusion  beats,"  and  then  offers 
an  excellent  segment  on  "drumset  colors" — the  use  of  mallets, 
brushes,  multi-rods,  and  bare  hands  on  the  kit  to  obtain  a  variety 
of  sounds.  Ultimately,  everything  that  Les  demonstrates  in  the 
"lesson"  segments  is  reinforced  in  his  "performance"  segments 
with  Transfusion,  so  the  musical  application  is  made  readily  ap¬ 
parent. 

It  should  be  noted  that  Les  DeMerle's  playing  and  soloing  style 
comes  a  great  deal  more  from  the  rudimental/big  band  school  (a  la 
Rich,  Bellson,  Krupa,  and  Morello)  than  from  the  more  contempo¬ 
rary  jazz/funk  school  of,  say,  Dave  Weckl  or  Steve  Smith.  This  is 
not  surprising,  since  Les  himself  states  in  the  video  that  he  is  "a 
strong  believer  in  tradition,"  and  that  he  was  influenced  by  the  big 
band  drummers.  He  also  spent  12  years  playing  in  Harry  James' 
band,  so  it's  easy  to  understand  Les's  approach  to  "fusion."  Les 
also  cites  a  personal  affinity  for  R&B  music,  and  that,  too,  shows  in 
the  heavy  2-and-4  backbeat  grooves  that  he  incorporates  into  his 
rock/fusion  beats.  I  don't  state  any  of  this  to  fault  Les's  style;  he's  a 
dynamic  player  with  tremendous  technical  facility.  I  only  mention 
it  so  that  you'll  be  aware  of  what  you'll  be  getting  from  Les:  a  lot  of 


sticking-oriented  soloing,  some  solid,  groove-oriented  drumming 
with  the  band,  and  a  good  dose  of  historical  influence. 

The  only  thing  I  found  objectionable  in  the  video  was  the  little 
"interview"  segments  interspersed  throughout.  With  the  exception 
of  one  long  segment  where  Les  and  Kevin  Gazzara  discuss  Les's 
background  and  personal  philosophy,  the  others  seem  designed  to 
"set  up"  each  instructional  segment  that  follows.  That  would  be 
fine  if  Les  didn't  do  exactly  the  same  thing  by  himself  during  that 
segment.  I  found  this  double-introduction  a  bit  redundant.  Other¬ 
wise,  the  tape  is  excellent,  the  accompanying  charts  are  clear,  and 
the  material  is  readily  applicable. 

— Rick  Van  Horn 

METALMORPHOSIS 
by  Bobby  Rock 
Syntax  Music  Video 
8033  Sunset  Blvd.,  Suite  110 
Hollywood  CA  90064 
Time:  87  minutes 
Price:  $49.95  (VHS  only), 
$59.95  for  video  and 
accompanying  workbook 
At  the  beginning  of  this  video, 
Mr.  Rock  explains  his  concept 
for  Metalmorphosis  basically  as 
the  bringing  together  of  different 
drum  styles  into  the  heavy  rock 
format.  What  this  means  is  that 
certain  elements  of  Latin,  funk, 
and  other  styles  can  be  used  in  a 
heavy  rock  situation,  if  properly 
"metalmorphosized."  In  this 
well-produced  video,  Bobby 
really  has  his  concept  together; 
he  knows  just  what  to  say  to  explain  his  points,  and  he  has  the 
technical  ability  to  sit  down  and  play  his  sometimes  quite  difficult 
examples.  For  rock,  heavy  rock,  and  metal  drummers,  there's 
some  valuable  information  here. 

Timekeeping  is  the  first  topic  Bobby  addresses,  and  he  offers 
suggestions  regarding  dynamics  and  how  they  affect  beats,  synco¬ 
pated  beats,  ostinato  patterns,  linear  patterns,  and  Latin  grooves, 
all  tailored  for  a  heavy  playing  style.  The  timekeeping  section  ends 
with  Bobby  performing  his  "monster"  pattern,  which  is  a  rather 
involved  independence  beat.  With  all  of  the  examples  presented, 
Bobby  thoroughly  explains  what  he's  doing  so  that  there  are  no 
mysteries.  Other  topics  Bobby  discusses  include  applying  rudi¬ 
ments  to  a  heavy-rock  format,  double  bass  drumming,  and  solo¬ 
ing.  Although  you  may  have  heard  a  few  of  his  licks  before,  many 
of  Bobby's  ideas  are  very  original  and  could  be  great  inspiration 
for  the  up-and-coming  rock  drummer. 

Another  outstanding  point  about  this  video  is  its  look;  many  of 
Bobby's  solo  sections  are  shot  on  film,  while  the  interview  por¬ 
tions  are  shot  on  videotape.  It  makes  for  a  lesson  that's  more  fun  to 
watch.  Different  locations  are  used  as  well,  including  interview 
sections  where  Bobby  is  outside  sitting  on  a  dumpster,  in  the 
control  room  of  a  recording  studio,  and  even  in  a  gym  (during  the 
section  on  weightlifting)!  There's  just  enough  of  these  sections  to 
add  to  what's  going  on  and  not  get  in  the  way. 

If  you've  seen  any  of  the  hard-rock  drumming  videos  out  today, 
you  may  have  noticed  that  many  of  them  aren't  that  organized.  On 
Metalmorphosis,  Bobby  knows  exactly  what  he  wants  to  say  and 
makes  his  points  directly  into  the  camera — no  scripts  or  Tel- 
ePrompTers — and  that's  also  an  advantage.  Overall,  the  point  that 
Bobby  makes  in  this  video  is  that  there  is  room  for  creativity  and 
great  playing  in  heavy  rock  and  metal,  and  on  this  tape  he  proves 
it. 

—  William  F.  Miller 


MODERN  DRUMMER 


77 


TRACKING 


TisThe 

Season  Of  The 
Sequel 


by  Emil  Richards 


A  few  months  ago  I  worked  on  a  lot  of  the  big  movie  sequels  that 
came  out  this  past  summer.  There  was  a  great  deal  of  percussion 
used  on  these  scores,  and  this  month  I  would  like  to  talk  about 
some  of  them.  Some  of  the  sequels  I  worked  on  included:  Star  Trek 
V  (Jerry  Goldsmith  composer),  Indiana  Jones  &  The  Last  Crusade 
(John  Williams  composer),  Ghostbusters  II  (Randy  Edelman 
composer),  Lethal  Weapon  II  (Michael  Kaiman  composer),  and 
Karate  Kid  III  (Bill  Conti  composer). 

Prior  to  most  of  these  sessions,  each  composer  contacted  me  to 
tell  me  they  wanted  to  come  by  the  warehouse  where  I  store  all  of 
my  instruments,  to  discuss  which  ones  would  be  used  on  the 
sessions,  and  how  many  percussionists  would  be  needed  to  per¬ 
form  the  music.  It  is  most  gratifying  to  know  that  most  of  the 
Hollywood  movie  composers  really  do  their  "homework."  By  that 
I  mean  they  take  a  great  deal  of  interest  in  the  percussion  section 


GREAT  DRUMMERS  —  GREAT  BOOKS 

□RUM  CENTER  PUBLICATIONS 


WELCOME  TO  ODD  TIMES  by  Michael  Lauren 
This  book  enables  set  drum- 
rcers  of  develop  their  playing 
in  time  signatures  other  than 
i*LvrKKiTY  4/4,  within  the  Funkfflock  id 
iom.  ft  contains  sections  on 
lira  warm-ups,  Funk/Rock  pat- 

terns,  etudes  and  exercises, 
and  combining  meters 

06620616  Book  .  $9  95 

Cassette  . $9.95 

Pack . SI  7.95 

TAKE  TWO  by  Steve  Loongo 

.  _  . .  A  book  lor  all  levels  ol  play- 

ere,  this  publication  deals  with 
TRv  |  K  hand  patterns  over  double 

g  0  "  bass.  The  emphasis  in  each 

-  «  chapters  on  cymbal  and  snare 

drum  variations,  over  straight 
sixteenth  note  double  bass 
drums,  in  2M.  Chapter  one 
concentrates  on  the  snare  drum,  chapter  two  on 
the  cymbal,  and  chapter  three  puts  ii  altogether. 
06621010  $9.95 


BASS  DRUM  CONTROL  by  Collin  Bailey 

This  book  was  written  tor  the 
purpose  of  developing  bass 
drum  technique ,  It  contains 
30  pages  of  exercises,  as  well 
as  tips  on  using  the  foot¬ 
board  Alternate  ways  to  play¬ 
ing  the  exercises  are  included 
06621020  .  .  $7.95 


MUSICIAN'S  GUIDE  TO  POLYRHYTHMS 

by  Peler  Magadin. 

Mvtifms  Tires  volumes  were  designed 

Guitft  t0  teactl  creative  musician 

*  and  music  student  Ihe  art  o! 

twjrfrf/nms~  playing  poly  rhythms.  These 
studies  are  not  limited  to  per- 
— cussron  instruments,  and  can 
be  applied  to  any  instruments. 


06620612  Yolunre  1 . $0,00 

06620613  Vdiume  2 . SB.0G 

06620614  Cassette . $7.95 

06620611  Complete  (both  bonks  A 

Cassette) . .  .  $23,95 


NAME 


ADDRESS 


CITY 

5TA 

T£ 

ZIP 

QUANITY 

BOOK 

iS!:::; 

TOTAL 

TIME  CAPSULE 

59.95 

DOUBLE  BASS  DRUMMING 

SO.  95 

ALSO  AVAILABLE 

JAZZ  ROCK  FUS!QHr  VOL.  1  OR  2 

If  S  DE  merle 

59J5 

IT  S  YOUR  MOVE.  VIDEO 

OOM  TAMULARO 

539.95 

Make  checks  payable  to  and  mall  U>; 

HAL  LEONARD  PUBLICATIONS 

PO  Box  13819,  Milwaukee,  Wl  53213 

Shippl.ni)  &  Hsndlinn 

jimM i! 

*  Shipping  and  Handling:  enclose  $1.50  3  For  books  or  less;  Add  50c  lor  each  additional  book 

•  All  checks  or  money  orders  pftyabte  in  u.S  Funds  only  (no  cash)  •  Dealer  inquiries  Invited 
■  Please  allow  6  lo  6  weeks  lor  delivery  ■  Books  may  be  shipped  separately  op  taw  our 

Consumer  Toll  Free  order  #  t^BQQ-637-2S$£- 


and  in  the  instruments  they  use  for  their  scores.  I  might  add  that 
the  above  mentioned  composers  are  extremely  knowledgeable  of 
ethnic  percussion  instruments,  their  origin,  and  their  applications. 

It  seems  that  there  is  a  trend  toward  less  electronic,  more  or¬ 
ganic  percussion  in  film  writing.  Not  that  there  is  less  electronics, 
but  rather  there  is  more  live  percussion  being  used  again.  I  think 
we  will  find  that  electronic  keyboards  and  percussion  will  find 
their  place  as  a  separate  section  of  the  orchestra,  and  that  there 
will  be  a  continuing  trend  back  to  live,  organic  percussion. 

Because  of  this  attitude  towards  live  percussion,  all  aspiring 
percussionists  should  learn  as  much  as  they  can  about  as  many 
different  areas  of  our  section  as  possible.  You  should  encourage 
your  schools,  your  drum  shops,  and  your  P.A.S.  chapters  to  sched¬ 
ule  percussion  clinics  of  every  standard  and  ethnic  area  of  percus¬ 
sion.  If  you  are  a  mallet  major,  you  should  consider  the  cimbalom, 
the  santir,  and  the  dulcimer  as  part  of  your  mallet  awareness.  If 
you  are  a  hand  percussion  major,  you  should  consider  all  of  the 
frame  drums,  tabla,  and  udu  drums.  If  you  are  a  percussionist,  you 
should  consider  yourself  a  "student"  for  life,  because  even  if  you 
live  to  be  100,  you  will  not  have  covered  all  there  is  in  our  field! 

Getting  back  to  "the  sequels,"  I've  included  the  first  two  pages 
from  some  of  the  parts  I  had  to  play.  Note  cue  10/11  M  3/1  from 
Indiana  Jones  &  The  Last  Crusade.  There  are  six  players  required, 
four  listed  on  one  score,  two  on  the  other.  Each  player  has  from 
two  to  ten  instruments  to  play.  John  Williams  doesn't  use  a  click 
track  very  often,  so  his  conducting  was  approximately  8th  note  = 
120. 

Note  cue  12  M  1  from  Ghostbusters  II.  I  played  the  bell  part  to 
this  and  used  a  LRR  sticking  all  the  way  through.  It  can  also  be 
played  hand-to-hand  starting  with  the  right  hand.  The  tempo  for 
this  piece  was  quarter  note  =  120. 

Note  cues  5  M  2  pt.1  from  Lethal  Weapon  II.  Many  times  your 
music  is  written  as  a  percussion  score  with  all  four  lines  written 
out.  This  can  be  helpful,  as  you  get  a  chance  to  follow  the  other 
lines  as  you  are  playing  your  own  line.  The  tempo  for  this  piece 
was  quarter  note  =  120. 

In  cue  5  M  2  pt.2  from  Lethal  Weapon  II,  it  says  at  the  beginning 
of  the  cue  "8  Free  To  Bar  1."  This  is  an  indication  of  eight  free 
clicks  (tempo  of  180  on  metronome)  before  bar  A,  where  the  parts 
come  in.  One  other  thing  to  notice  on  these  parts  is  the  number  of 
staffs  shown.  Even  though  there  are  lines  for  four  players,  notice 
how  the  part  shows  three  staffs  for  three  players,  then  two  staffs  for 
two  players,  then  back  to  three  players,  then  four  players,  and  then 
to  one  staff  for  one  player.  This  can  be  quite  confusing,  but  you 
must  get  used  to  all  reading  possibilities. 

Notice  how  on  every  composition  the  instruments  are  all  listed 
at  the  upper  left-hand  corner  of  the  first  page.  We  have  instructed 
all  of  the  copyists  to  list  all  of  the  instruments  required  in  a  piece 
this  way,  so  we  won't  have  any  surprises  when  we  turn  the  page. 
Also,  this  allows  us  to  know  what  to  set  up  for  each  cue. 


78 


MODERN  DRUMMER 


PERCUSSION (i  4) 

 ' INDIANA  JONES 


kffc .  rflriutrt) 

tr, - -  '= 

A. 

*>«  * 

«  i 

<S - — — 

figg)  „ — ^  ^ 

rrf  -^r- 

. 

- - In 

1  L 

*  .  1  b 

& 

Cy,.  .,,  Jvrh= 

~ti  ,n—j — 

=  ‘"  “' 

=j7n  Jfo£fe 

r  -  - — 

^ 

;  rn '  1 

A  /ftAIIW* 

>.r  p  11 

u,  -■  *■ 

si 

i.^-  ~1± 

IM"*= 

A  £  . 

K1-  ]  -  =: 

^H= 

f-- 

- : 

f* 

Id 

.mw- 

5  — 

1 

JSJU./.-; 

mmjs 1 

p 

-■rnfenri 

PERCUSSION 


INDIANA  JONES 


pat,. 


■wL  * 


w 


h  ,,  ,ki 

mi;  ,  ,  .| 

-n  „.rm, 

^  — =* 

JT 

H  », 

* 

_  *1  («m.  J 

— 


i  fnfi  iff? 


ftblKJJWfe 


n* 


[<0  3«WW^ 


* 


m 


iv-7 


Sfe 


Jw* 


** 

60  1®  A 

a 

«  |  ff* 

n 

&  2  g  ii^J 

X 

MODERN  DRUMMER 


79 


PERCUSSION  [i^ 


80 


MODERN  DRUMMER 


asked  for  a  sound  that 
m  would  be  very  dark, 
very  dry,  very  personal... 

Sabian  gave  me 
cymbals  that  are  musically 
motivating,  expressive  in 
any  style  from  Jazz  to 
Heavy  Metal.” 

They’re  a  breed  apart. 
That's  why  they’re  signed. 


Cvut/bt/  iW 

HEAR  THE 
DIFFERENCE 


Satrian  lid.,  Mrtuctic,  New  Bnmwrtck,  Canada  EOH  114 
Phene  1-506-272-2019  Ht  1-506-328-9697 


STOLUft  continued  from  page  i  1 


Fori  PtowertMls  caialog,  send  S2.GG  in 
Canada)  to:  Pwcruuik  Dept.  SIDD2,  P.0.  Box  88 i 
Beusalcra,  FA.  19020  -  3221  Producer  Wa* 
Ptemona,  CA.  917484916  *  P.0,  Box  2009,  Idaho 
Falls,  ID.  83403  *  In  Canada:  2l65-46th  Ave„ 

La chine*  Quebec  ttST2Pl  Canada. 


t’s  simple.  The  most 
important  thing  about  a 
drum  stick  is  how  it  feels. 
That’s  why  we  make 
twelve  different  great 
feeling  models  of  U.S. 
made,  premium  grade 
American  Hickory  drum 
Icks.  Matched  in  pairs 
ad  guaranteed  straight. 

/J,et  your  feelings  be  your 
^  guide.  Tama  Power  Tools.  | 
f  At  your  authorized  lama 
dealer. 


Alex  Acufia  is  truly  one  of  the  most  gifted  drum¬ 
mer  /  percussionists  of  our  time.  He  was  voted 
Best  Latin  Percussionist  by  Modem  Drummer 
Magazine  for  '87,  '88,  &'89,  and  Most  Valuable 
Player  In  the  Percussionist  Chair  by  the  LA 
Chapter  of  the  NARAS  for  ’87,  '88,  &  ‘89.  He 
helped  pioneer  modem  jazz  styles  as  both  drum¬ 
mer  and  percussionist  ot  the  legendary  group 
Weather  Report,  as  well  asKoinonla  and  Friend¬ 
ship  with  Lee  Ritenour,  Ernie  Watts,  and  Abra¬ 
ham  Laboriel  His  countless  recordings  include 
U2.  Paul  McCartney,  Al  Jarreau,  Larry  Carlton, 
Chick  Corea,  Lyle  Mays,  and  The  Yeliowjack- 
ets.  From  sharing  tips  on  congas  and  timbales 
to  introducing  exotic  Caribbean.  African,  and 
South  American  rhythms  into  today's  musical 
styles,  Alex  gives  a  lifetime  ot  valuable  informa¬ 
tion  to  the  practicing  drummer  and/or  percussion¬ 
ist  in  this  unique  one  hour  instructional  video. 
Meant  for  players  of  all  levels,  this  video  has 
something  of  importance  and  significance  for 
amateur  and  professional  alike. 

VHSffi-R  VWeo&iookier$44"w  ~~ 
Postage  4  handling  inside  U.S.  $3.50  - _ 

MO.  ra*.  add  $2.81  ft  sales  tax  far  vkh«  • _ 

total  - _ 

Mall  to:  Music  Source  International 
P.O.Box  46758 
Kansas  City,  MO  64118 

fMijmenl  option*  (chock  m)  ,g,  g«  43^491  3 

□check  or  money  order  1  1 

(payable  to  Music  Source  International) 

□  VISA  QMaslercard  Exp.  date _ 

Card  number _ 

Signature _ 

Name _ 

Address _ 

City _ Slate _  Zip _ 

Telephone  number _ 

Pteue  Allow  2-4  weeks  for  d livery,  Al  nc n  US.  o<4«n  peyabio  In 
U.S.  totot  by  VISA,  M**Wre*d  or  bit!  money  otdw  only. 

*  Europe  end  Canada  airmail  $10.00  each; 

Alia  and  Au* tr alb  airmail  (12,00  each 


mers  turned  out  for  the  Gene  Krupa  com¬ 
petition,  sponsored  by  Pic  magazine.  This 
helped  his  reputation.  At  about  this  time, 
Stoller  began  studying  with  Henry  Adler,  a 
New  York  drummer  who  was  making  a 
major  reputation  for  himself  as  a  teacher. 
Stoller's  experience  with  Adler,  in  addition 
to  what  he  had  already  learned  from  Willy 
Kessler,  provided  the  strong  foundation  he 
would  take  into  major  big  bands. 

Adler  got  Stoller  jobs  with  the  Van  Alex¬ 
ander  and  Teddy  Powell  bands.  The  drum¬ 
mer  went  on  the  road  for  the  first  time.  His 
experiences,  some  of  them  quite  humor¬ 
ous,  still  make  him  chuckle.  Musicians 
would  play  tricks  on  one  another  and  "put 
on"  leaders  as  well.  It  was  all  a  matter  of 
youthful  energy  and  mischief,  none  of  it 
really  harmful.  Also  during  this  time  pe¬ 
riod,  Stoller  worked  with  Raymond  Scott, 
who  had  an  experimental  ensemble  that 
tested  the  youngster's  musicianship. 

In  1941,  at  age  16,  Stoller  got  a  key  call. 
"Freddy  Goodman,  Benny's  brother,  phoned 
me  from  Buffalo  and  asked  me  to  rush  up 
there,"  he  recalls.  "Benny  and  the  band 
were  at  the  Chez  Buffalo  Theater,  and  Ralph 
Collier  had  to  leave  to  get  a  cyst  operation. 
It  was  very  exciting  for  me  to  get  that  call, 
after  all,  Benny  had  one  of  the  top  bands.  I 
don't  remember  just  how  I  played.  But  I 
must  have  been  on  the  right  track.  I  got 
along  fine  with  Benny — I  guess  I  was  too 
naive  to  know  whether  he  was  giving  me 
the  famous  'ray'  or  not— and  I  stayed  on 
until  he  broke  up  the  band  a  few  months 
later. 

"Mel  Powell,  the  great  pianist  and  ar¬ 
ranger/composer,  joined  the  band  the  day 
after  I  did.  He  was  just  a  year  older  than 
me.  I  recorded  his  'Mission  To  Moscow' 
with  the  band,  as  well  as  several  things  that 
Dave  Matthews  arranged  for  Peggy  Lee — 'I 
Got  It  Bad,'  'All  I  Need  Is  You.'  All  in  all,  it 
was  a  good  experience.  I  did  my  job — kept 
time,  established  a  good  groove.  Those  were 
the  two  things  Benny  wanted.  I  dealt  with 
the  show  pieces  like  'Sing,  Sing,  Sing'  with¬ 
out  too  much  difficulty;  my  studying  was  a 
factor  in  being  able  to  play  material  like 
that." 

By  this  time,  Stoller  had  left  high  school. 
The  demands  of  an  increasingly  successful 
career  made  further  attendance  impossible. 
People  around  the  music  business  had  taken 
a  liking  to  him.  Before  long,  he  joined  Les 
Brown  fora  brief  period,  then  was  engaged 
by  singer  Vaughan  Monroe.  The  band  was 
hot.  It  drew  great  crowds  everywhere  it 
played.  In  addition,  Monroe's  band  was 
featured  on  the  weekly  Camel  radio  show. 
It  certainly  was  not  as  interesting  and  pro¬ 
vocative  as  the  one  led  by  BG.  But  the 
Monroe  stint  and  the  three  years  Stoller 


ddrum 

Real  drums  never  sounded  so  good. 
D^gital  drums  never  felt  so  good. 
25  Lindeman  Drive 
Trumbull,  GT  06611 
(203)  374-0020 


MODERN  DRUMMER 


spent  with  the  Charlie  Spivak  Orchestra 
proved  to  be  important,  because  they  pro¬ 
vided  musical  situations  that  helped  round 
him  out  as  a  drummer. 

Who  was  Alvin  Stoller  listening  to  dur¬ 
ing  this  key  developmental  phase?  What 
kind  of  drumming  did  he  favor?  "Jo  Jones 
with  Basie.  The  guy  was  just  something 
else  to  me.  He  had  his  own  identity.  You 
could  always  tell  it  was  Jo  by  the  way  he 
played  the  hi-hat.  His  lightness  and  his  abil¬ 
ity  to  play  the  right  things  at  the  right  time 
further  identified  him. 

"Drummers  in  those  days  had  their  own 
signature.  Sid  Catlett  did.  Gene  Krupa  was 
a  great  individual.  O'Neill  Spencer  with 
John  Kirby  had  his  own  thing  with  brushes. 
Certainly  you  could  recognize  Chick!  Later 
Max  Roach  and  Don  Lamond  had  an  effect 
on  me;  these  are  two  more  guys  who  cer¬ 
tainly  developed  their  own  way  of  doing 
things.  "What  I  tried  to  do  through  the  years 
was  assimilate  all  the  good  stuff  I  heard 
from  a  variety  of  people  and  play  it  my 
way. 

"I  loved  Buddy  Rich  more  than  any  other 
drummer,"  Stoller  continues.  "But  I  never 
tried  to  duplicate  what  he  did.  You  couldn't, 
and  I  didn't  want  to.  Every  drummer  has 
his  own  thing,  his  own  'fingerprints.'  You 
don't  interpret  the  same  way  as  another 
guy.  You  don't  have  the  same  physical 
strength.  Everyone  is  gifted  with  creativity 
of  his  own.  To  find  and  develop  it  is  the 
musician's  responsibility. 


"Buddy  was  a  genius;  it's  as  simple  as 
that,"  Stoller  continues.  "He  was  a  fire  in  a 
band.  His  sound,  his  time,  the  things  he 
played  behind  a  band,  his  short  and  long 
solos — all  these  things  uplifted  the  music. 
He  wasn't  a  drummer  who  just  did  a  very 
capable  job.  He  followed  Cliff  Leeman  into 
the  Artie  Shaw  band.  Cliff  was  great;  he 
was  on  the  big  Shaw  hit,  'Begin  The  Be- 
guine.'  Then  along  came  Buddy,  and  he 
brought  a  unique  feeling  of  life  and  crea¬ 
tivity  to  the  band.  Buddy  was  sprinkled 
with  a  different  kind  of  star  dust! 

"I  first  met  Buddy  when  I  was  a  kid — 
about  15.  I  knew  his  brother  Mickey;  we 
played  in  bands  in  Brooklyn.  Finally  Buddy 
and  I  got  together  and  took  to  one  another. 

I  used  to  stay  with  the  Rich  family  at  the 
house  in  Brighton  Beach.  Many  a  day  I 
went  to  work  with  Buddy — to  the  Astor 
Hotel  or  to  the  Paramount  Theater,  where 
he  was  appearing  with  the  Tommy  Dorsey 
Band — and  just  watched  and  listened.  The 
days  would  usually  end  at  Nathan's  in 
Brooklyn,  where  we'd  get  some  of  those 
delicious  hot  dogs.  They  might  not  have 
been  the  healthiest  thing  to  eat,  but  Buddy 
loved  hot  dogs  with  ketchup." 

Stoller  pauses,  then  smiles,  saying, 
"Buddy  was  a  central  figure  in  my  life.  Not 
only  was  he  a  dear  friend  and  a  model,  he 
was  a  guy  I  followed  into  various  work 
situations.  The  first  was  the  Tommy  Dorsey 
band,  in  1945.  Buddy  wanted  to  have  his 
own  band. 


"I  was  tired  of  working  with  Charlie 
Spivak;  I  had  done  everything  with  the 
band,  including  two  pictures  in  Hollywood: 
Pin  Up  Girl  and  Follow  The  Boys.  It  was 
time  for  a  change.  I  was  at  New  York's 
Commodore  Hotel  with  Spivak.  I  knew 
Buddy  wanted  to  leave  Dorsey.  Almost 
every  afternoon  I'd  go  to  Tommy's  rehears¬ 
als  nearby  at  the  400  Club.  I  knew  Dorsey's 
charts  from  the  records  and  from  listening 
to  the  band  in  person.  I  sat  in  with  TD  af¬ 
ternoons  and  played  with  him  in  the  eve¬ 
nings  between  my  own  sets  at  the  Commo¬ 
dore.  Dorsey  tried  maybe  25  or  30  drum¬ 
mers  and  wasn't  pleased.  I  kept  coming 
back  to  sit  in.  I  guess  he  finally  noticed  me 
and  liked  what  I  did,  because  I  was  hired. 
It  was  a  good  thing  for  both  Buddy  and  me. 

I  got  to  go  with  a  great  band,  and  Buddy 
was  released  from  his  contract  and  could 
go  his  own  way. 

"Moving  into  the  Dorsey  band,"  says 
Stoller,  "was  really  something.  It  was  tough; 
Tommy  was  super  demanding.  I  had  never 
worked  for  anyone  like  him  before.  One 
thing  I'll  say,  though:  He  got  results. 

"But  after  a  while  he  got  to  you.  There 
were  warnings  not  to  rush  tempo,  not  to 


ddrum 

THE  WORLD  LEADER 
IN  DIGITAL  SAMPLING 
25  Lindeman  Drive 
Trumbull,  CT  06611 

(203)  374-0020 


w!inante  Music  Drummer's  World  Just  Drums,  Inc .  Memphis  Drum  Shop  Professional  Drum  Shop  Torps  Music  -1 

425  Alvarado  St  133  West  45th  Street  5431  Yonge  Street  1999  Madison  Avenue  854  North  Vine  Street  528  Rice  Street 


Monterey.  CA  93940 
(408)  372-5893 


Manhattan,  NY  10036  Toronto.  Ontario  M2N52  Memphis,  TN  38104 

(212)  840-305?  Canada  ph.  (416)  226-1211  (901)  276-2328 


Los  Angeles,  CA  90038  Si.  Paul [  MN  55103 
(213)  469-0440  (612)  224-7621 


American  Dream  Music 
6248  Ef  Cajon  Blvd. 

San  Diego,  CA  92115 
(619)  582-1090 

Atlanta  Pro  Percussion 
2526  Spring  Road 
Smryna.  GA  30080 
(404)  436-3786 

Drum  Center  of  Indianapolis 
5034  East  56th  Street 
Indianapolis.  IN  46226 
(317)  259-4474 

Drum  World 
969  Geneva  Ave. 

San  Francisco.  CA  94112 
(415)  334-7559 


Drums,  Ltd, /Frank 's  Drums 
222  South  Jefferson 
Chicago,  (L  60606 
(312)  606-0707 

Fork's  Drum  Closet 
2707  12th  Avenue  South 
Nashville t  TN  37204 
(615)  383-8343 

Frank  Weems  Drum  Shop 
120  SI.  V  Street 
Grants  Pass,  OR  97526 
(503)  474-2667 

Gelb  Music 
722  El  Camino 
Redwood  City,  CA  94063 
(415)  365-8878 


Long  Island  Drum  Center 
82  Commack  Road 
Cummack.  U,  NY  11725 
(516)  499-0455 

Long  island  Drum  Center 
2489  Charles  Court 
North  Beilmore,  NY  11710 
(516)  781-0777 

Long  Island  Drum  Center 
222  Route  112 
Patchogue,  NY  11772 
(516)  758-6868 

Luchetti  Drum  &  Guitar 
2617  Rhode  Island  W 
Albuquerque ,  NM  871 10 
(505)  298-5519 


New  Jack's  Drum  Shop 
1096  Boylston 
Boston,  MA  02215 
(617)247-9117 

Percussion  Center 
1701  North  Harrison  St 
Ft.  Wayne .  IN  46808 
(800)  348-1782 

Percussion  Shop.  The 
822  Custer  Avenue 
Evanston,  IL  60202 
(312)  864-2997 

Professional  Drum  Shop 
608  Maryland  Pkwy 
Las  Vegas,  NV  89101 
(702)  382-914? 


Resurrection  Drums  -  1 
9337  SW  40th  Avenue 
Miami [  FL  33165 
(305)  559-6719 

Resurrection  Drums  -  2 
2920  SW  30th  Avenue 
Hallandale.  FL  33009 
(305)  945-8096 

Sam  Ash  Music 
East  50,  Route  4 
Paramus,  NJ  07652 
(201)  843-0119 

Seattle  Drum  Shop 
843  NE  Northgate  Way 
Seattle,  WA  98125 
(206)  363-1853 


Torps  Music  -  2 

216  Third  Ave.  North 
Minneapolis,  MN  5540 1 
(617)  339-1229 

Union  Grove  Music 

217  Cathead  St. 

Santa  Cruz.  CA  95060 
(408)  427-0670 

Union  Grove  Music 
4165  Stevens  Creek  Blvd 
Santa  Clara,  CA  95051 
(408)  984-7300 

Valley  Arts  Percussion 
12162  Ventura  Blvd 
Studio  City,  CA  91604 
(818)  763-3383 


SOLID  authorized  dealers  as  of  9-15-89 


SOLID  PERCUSSION,  Inc.  ■  P.O.Box  511  •  Watsonville,  CA  95077 


MODERN  DRUMMER 


83 


drag  tempo,  the  constant  questioning  of 
your  work.  One  night  we  had  a  bit  of  a 
scene.  And  that's  when  he  came  up  with 
that  classic  quote  that  broke  up  a  lot  of 
people.  He  said,  There  are  three  SOB's  in 
the  world:  you,  Buddy  Rich,  and  Hitler. 
And  I  have  to  end  up  with  two  of  three.'  I 
thought,  'Hitler!  What  the  hell  does  Hitler 
have  to  do  with  Buddy  and  me?'  I  told 
Buddy  and  he  fell  out. 

"The  experience  with  Dorsey,  despite  the 
difficulties,  was  important,"  Stoller  insists. 
"I  got  to  play  with  great  musicians  like 
Buddy  DeFranco,  Ziggy  Elman,  Charlie 
Shavers,  and  Bommie  Richman.  And  the 
band  was  both  a  fantastic  dance  and  show 
band,  and  played  jazz  things  well — not  like 
Woody  Herman  or  Count  Basie.  But  the 


TD  band  could  swing. 

"I  sometimes  listen  to  some  of  the  rec¬ 
ords  we  made  during  the  two  years  I  was 
with  the  band — 'Then  I'll  Be  Happy,'  'The 
Song  Is  You,'  the  Show  Boat  album — and 
they  remind  me  of  the  good  things,  not  just 
all  the  hard  work.  We  were  supposed  to 
remake  'Hawaiian  War  Chant'  and  feature 
Charlie  Shavers  and  Ziggy  on  trumpets,  but 
we  never  got  around  to  it.  We  did  make  a 
picture,  The  Fabulous  Dorseys.  I  enjoyed 
that." 

Finally,  in  1947,  Stoller  left  Dorsey  and 
returned  to  New  York,  where  he  did  a  great 
variety  of  work  before  leaving  for  Los  An¬ 
geles  in  1948  and  still  another  career.  While 
still  on  the  East  Coast,  he  performed  with 
the  Lester  Lanin  society  orchestra  and  ap¬ 


peared  with  the  Alvy  West  little  band  at  the 
Strand  Theater;  he  also  played  with  the 
Dick  Rogers  band  at  the  Hotel  Edison,  the 
Vincent  Lopez  Orchestra  at  the  Hotel  Taft, 
and  the  George  Hall  band  at  Roseland. 
And  he  was  the  drummer  at  Tony  Pastor's 
in  Greenwich  Village  for  a  period  of  time. 

"There  are  some  great  memories  from 
that  period,"  Stoller  notes.  "I  got  a  job  with 
the  Sy  Oliver  big  band.  Most  of  the  guys 
had  been  with  Jimmie  Lunceford.  It  was  a 
great  experience.  One  night  in  Baltimore, 
several  of  the  Ellington  musicians  came  over 
after  finishing  at  the  Hippodrome  Theater 
and  sat  in.  We  played  a  'header' — a  head 
arrangement — and  the  band  romped.  The 
pulse  was  so  strong  that  the  floor  of  the 
place  actually  moved  up  and  down  as  the 
dancers  did  their  thing  with  the  music.  It 
should  have  been  recorded.  But  anyway 
it's  recorded  in  my  spirit.  I  loved  working 
withSy. 

"Equally  memorable  was  the  time  I  spent 
on  New  York's  Swing  Street — 52nd  Street — 
working  with  Charlie  Shavers,  and  a  bit 
later  with  saxophonist  Flip  Phillips  and 
trombonist  Bill  Harris,  who  had  been  in 
the  Woody  Herman  First  Herd.  I  subbed 
for  Dave  Tough  in  the  Phillips/Harris  group 
for  three  weeks.  I  can't  tell  you  how  excit¬ 
ing  that  was,  with  people  like  Art  Tatum — 
the  great  one — and  Sarah  Vaughan  coming 
by  to  sit  in. 

"One  of  the  most  instructive  gigs  I  had 
was  subbing  for  the  percussionist  and  work¬ 
ing  for  conductor  Paul  Ash  at  the  Roxy 
Theater.  This  is  the  sort  of  thing  young  drum¬ 
mers  don't  get  to  do  today.  You  had  to  hold 
together  a  mammoth  stage  presentation  or 
ice  show.  This  was  how  it  went  down:  The 
night  before  you  came  on  the  job,  you 
stationed  yourself  in  the  wings  of  the  thea¬ 
ter  and  watched  and  listened  as  the  show 
progressed;  you  didn't  rehearse  with  the 
band  or  even  have  a  chance  to  go  over  the 
show.  You  had  to  absorb  what  was  hap¬ 
pening  that  one  time.  Sometimes  they  let 
the  drummer  be  on  hand  for  another  show. 
And  then,  the  next  morning,  you  had  to  do 
the  job.  It  was  stressful,  but  it  was  wonder¬ 
ful  training.  You  literally  were  forced  to 
produce!  It  made  a  better  musician  out  of 
you. 

"That  was  the  sort  of  training  a  drummer 
got  in  New  York,"  Stoller  explains,  adding, 
"Conductors  and  band  leaders  expected  you 
to  be  able  to  do  everything,  particularly  if 
you'd  had  good  teachers  and  an  extensive 
background.  New  York  offered  the  oppor¬ 
tunities  to  have  varied  musical  experiences. 
One  of  the  best  I  had  was  with  Sinatra  at 
the  Capitol  Theater.  The  show  featured 
Frank,  the  Skitch  Henderson  Orchestra — 
for  which  I  was  the  drummer — and  the  then- 


ddrum 

Real  drums  never  sounded  $o  good [ 
Digital  drums  never  felt  so  good. 
25  Lindeman  Drive 
Trumbull,  CT  06611 

(203)  374-0020 


84 


MODERN  DRUMMER 


Sonny  Emory  p/oys  and  endorses  Gibra/tor 
Power  Rock  Systems  and  Accessories. 


CBStW 


f»r 


On  Tour  and  In  The  Studio  with  Sonny  Emory 

Sonny  Emory  could  have  chosen  any  rack 
system  he  wanted  for  his  studio  and  tour¬ 
ing  drumsets,  and  he  chose  Gibraltar. 

\  Whether  you’re  setting  up  once  a  day 

\  or  once  a  week,  it  makes  sense  to 

:  s'  connect  with  quality-built  Gibraltar  Hard- 

ware.  Take  a  look  at  the  complete  line 
^  m  '  of  Gibraltar  free-standing  hardware  and 

#  1  7T  *  Power  Rack  Systems  and  the  all  new  line 

of  Gibraltar  Service  Center  parts  at  your 
^  ■  w-a  ■  -  local  drum  shop. 


For  more  information  write  to: 
Gibraltar 

do  Kaman  Percussion  Team 
Kaman  Music  Corporation 
P.0.  Box  507 
Bloomfield.  CT  06002 


Gibraltar  9000  Series  Stands 


KAMAN 


unknown  Will  Mastin  Trio,  starring  a  bundle 
of  energy  and  talent  named  Sammy  Davis, 
Jr." 

As  if  this  weren't  enough,  Stoller  studied 
mallets  with  Moe  Goldenberg  and  Phil 
Kraus,  and  timpani  with  Saul  Goodman. 
He  certainly  wasn't  lazy.  But  he  preferred 
the  warm  weather  of  California,  which  sup¬ 
posedly  encourages  indolence  and  a 
'manana'  attitude.  In  1948,  Stoller  drove 
out  to  LA.  with  saxophonist  Irv  Roth  and 
started  a  new  life. 

He  explains  more  fully:  "I  loved  the  work 
in  New  York,  the  learning;  I  even  got  into 
Latin  percussion  shortly  before  I  left.  But  I 
had  fallen  for  the  California  thing,  as  it  was 
then.  I  had  been  out  there  a  couple  of 
times  with  Spivak.  You  could  park  your  car 


and  not  lock  it.  The  sand  was  clean  at  the 
beaches;  the  air  still  was  okay.  And  there 
weren't  that  many  people.  It  got  in  my 
blood. 

"When  I  arrived  out  here,  though,  the 
work  scene  wasn't  too  good.  All  my  back¬ 
ground  meant  nothing.  There  were  few 
clubs,  and  whatever  there  was — the  Club 
47  on  Ventura  Boulevard  and  the  Hang¬ 
over  on  Vine  Street — were  Dixieland.  I 
worked  casuals,  strip  joints,  whatever  there 
was.  Then  the  Empire  Room  opened  in 
Hollywood.  Georgie  Auld,  who  had  made 
such  a  great  reputation  with  Goodman, 
Shaw,  and  with  his  own  big  bands,  took  an 
eight-piecer  in,  and  it  worked  out  well.  It 
was  a  pretty  modern  band;  Billy  Byers,  the 
trombone  player,  did  most  of  the  charts, 


and  we  recorded  for  Albert  Marx's  Discov¬ 
ery  label.  Right  away  the  word  got  around 
that  we  were  'New  York  beboppers.'  Hol¬ 
lywood  was  pretty  conservative  back  then. 
But  the  band  added  a  little  something  to 
music.  It  made  a  contribution. 

"In  Georgie's  band,  I  applied  what  I  had 
learned  from  Max  Roach  on  52nd  Street. 
He  was  an  innovator  at  the  time,  and  my 
approach  to  time  changed  a  bit — more  left 
hand,  more  accents  with  the  right  foot.  I 
admired  him.  But  I  couldn't  say  I  turned 
into  a  bop  drummer.  My  swing  roots  were 
too  strong." 

Stoller  didn't  really  get  something  going 
in  L.A.  until  he  made  a  recording  with  his 
friend  Mel  Torme,  called  "Careless  Hands." 
It  was  a  hit  for  Torme  and  helped  promote 
the  drummer  in  town.  There's  no  short-cut 
to  anything,  according  to  Stoller.  You  have 
to  wait  your  turn,  then  prove  yourself  when 
given  the  opportunity. 

Jobs  began  coming  his  way.  He  did  The 
Bing  Crosby  Show,  subbing  for  Nick  Fatool, 
Club  1 5  with  Jerry  Gray's  band,  and  played 
with  Bob  Crosby — all  on  radio.  He  met 
and  worked  with  Billy  May  at  this  time, 
also  on  Club  15.  The  relationship  with  May 
mushroomed  into  a  major  association. 
Stoller  made  a  May  album  with  singer  Yma 
Sumac  and  joined  the  Billy  May  band  that 
became  such  an  enormous  success — the 
one  with  the  highly  identifiable  saxophone 
sound.  It  was  a  major  orchestra  of  the 
1950s,  including  such  other  heavy  Holly¬ 
wood  players  as  trumpeter  Conrad  Gozzo, 
pianist  Jimmy  Rowles,  guitarist  Al  Hen¬ 
drickson,  and  bassist  Joe  Mondragon.  A 
number  of  innovative  May  albums  fol¬ 
lowed — some  by  the  basic  band,  others 
with  enhanced  instrumentation. 

"I  got  involved  with  Sinatra  on  a  con¬ 
tinuing  basis  in  the  early  1950s  through 
Billy  and  Nelson  Riddle,  who  were  doing 
most  of  Frank's  charts,"  Stoller  explains.  "I 
did  all  of  his  albums  and  singles  for  quite 
some  time.  Things  kept  getting  busier  and 
busier.  I  played  with  several  bands  at  the 
Hollywood  Palladium.  Whenever  anyone 
had  drummer  trouble,  I  was  fortunate 
enough  to  get  the  call.  Among  the  leaders  I 
worked  for  were  Claude  Thornhill,  Harry 
James — I  also  was  with  Harry  several  times 
filling  in  for  Buddy — Ray  Anthony,  Ralph 
Flanagan,  Jerry  Gray.  I  went  East  with  Jerry's 
band,  and  we  did  a  few  things  around  New 
York. 

"The  most  important  call  I  got  in  the 
early  1950s,  though,  was  from  Earle  Hagen 
at  20th  Century-Fox  Studios.  He  was  work¬ 
ing  with  orchestrator  Herb  Spencer.  They 
were  involved  with  many  TV  shows  and 
were  looking  for  a  'time'  drummer  who 
could  play  some  mallets.  As  I  told  you,  I 


ddrum 

THE  WORLD  LEADER 
IN  DIGITAL  SAMPLING 
25  Lindeman  Drive 
Trumbull,  CT  06611 

(203)  374-0020 


Drum  School  Part  1 


TtettmeUe  Sxft&UeMce, 

/4veMUi6le  <uc  fyidea  @44&e£€e 

Includes: 


i 


Lee  Mangano 
(N.R.G.) 


Jackie  Santos 
(Tavares) 

*Bob  James"  “Tom  Brown” 


Rudiments 

Rhythms 

Four  Part  Independence 
Back  Sticking  Exercise 
Wrist  Exercises 
Fusion 

Latin  Funk  Feels 
Soloing 

Over  30  Exercises  in  3  meters 

Everything  is  broken  down  for  the 
beginners  to  the  extreme 
advanced  players 

With  in  depth  explanations  of 
everything  being  played 

Drum  Ensemble. 


Hirsh  Gardner 
(New  England) 
Record  Producer 


‘Also  Joe  Pet  is  offering  personalized  one  on  one  video  drum  lessons  through 
the  mail  from  his  studio  in  Boston.  For  more  information  contact  Joe  Pet  at 
1-61 7-391-1334 

Please  send  me:  Drum  School  Part  1  VFIS  only  $49.95  each 
Make  check  or  money  order  payable  to: 

Drum  School,  P.O.  Box  20535,  Cranston,  Rl  02920 


Name. 
City _ 


or  call  1-401-738-7511 
_ _ Address _ 


State. 


Zip- 


Phone- 


Signature . 


Add  $4.00  shipping  U.S.A. 

$9.00  outside  U.SA  per  tape. 

R.l.  State  residents  add  6%  sales  tax. 


86 


MODERN  DRUMMER 


T 


Dave  Week)  Signature  Stick 

Awesome:  that's  the  way  to  describe 
Dave  -  and  his  new  stick,  Burgundy 
color,  oval  tip,  weight  between  a  j 
5A  and  a  SB.  Fast  and  power-  Jm 
fuf.  Just  like  Dave  hlmseTfr*  jj&J I 


Omar  Hakim  Signature  Stick 

Omar  -  one  of  today's  most  sophisticated 
set  artists.  His  new  stick  features  a  round 
nylon  tip  which  gives  a  "live"  cymbal  sound 
as  bright  and  true  as  the  recorded  sound. 
In  honey  hickory  with  maroon  signature  - 
dashing,  just  like  Omar. 


vc 

HKTH 


If  you’re  serious. 

We're  serious  about  Quality,  Playability,  Sound,  and 
Durability.  We  listen  to  the  Drummer  for  his  needs 


had  some  mallet  training  and  experience  with  timps,  and  I  could 
read  very  well.  But  I  was  hesitant  and  turned  Earle  down. 

"Dave  Klein,  the  contractor,  called  my  wife,  Mary,  and  said,  'Is 
Alvin  crazy?  This  is  a  great  chance!'  But  to  tell  you  the  truth,  I  was 
scared;  I  didn't  want  to  step  on  my  toe.  But  they  kept  at  it,  saying, 
'We  love  the  recordings  you've  done;  your  drumming  is  great,' 
and  all  that  stuff.  They  insisted  they  would  work  with  me.  That 
wasn't  exactly  true. 

"In  studio  work,  you're  always  under  the  gun.  You're  expected 
to  play  parts,  no  matter  how  difficult  they  are.  I'll  tell  you  one 
thing:  I've  prayed  a  lot  over  the  years  doing  TV  and  films.  It's  that 
much  of  a  challenge,  no  matter  how  deep  your  background  is. 
How  best  to  describe  TV  and  film  work?  It's  a  matter  of  being 
precise  and  right,  all  the  time.  It's  brain  surgery,  that's  what  it  is. 
And  every  operation  has  to  be  a  success.  There  are  no  failures — a 
failure  and  you're  gone.  You  just  go  in  and  lay  it  down.  There  are 
to  no  ifs,  ands,  or  buts. 

"I  had  one  teacher  out  here  who  was  very  helpful — Murray 
Spivak.  He  helped  me  put  everything  together — at  least  from  a 
technical  point  of  a  view.  You  need  teachers  who  really  know — 
unless  you're  Rembrandt  or  Buddy  Rich. 

"I  also  developed  an  'attitude.'  I  didn't  question  anything," 
Stoller  explains.  "I  just  did  the  job.  I  made  every  adjustment.  I 
might  do  a  Tex  Ritter  record  date  in  the  morning,  a  film  like  West 
Side  Story  in  the  afternoon,  and  a  Sinatra  session  at  night.  Each 
calls  on  a  different  aspect  of  your  talent  and  background.  What  it 
amounts  to,  really,  is  you  do  what  is  asked.  It's  as  simple  as  that." 

Buddy  Rich  made  possible  a  great  deal  of  employment  for 
Stoller.  If  Rich  had  a  tiff  with  someone  or  became  ill,  Stoller  was 
called.  Norman  Granz,  the  great  impresario  and  recording  man, 
opened  up  a  whole  new  field  for  the  drummer — often  because  of 
the  difficulty  he  had  with  Rich.  Stoller  toured  with  the  star-studded 
Jazz  At  The  Philharmonic  troupe,  and  he  made  records  with  a 
variety  of  Granz  artists  on  the  Verve,  Clef,  and  Norgran  labels. 

"There  were  so  many  record  dates,"  Stoller  remembers.  "I  did 
Billie  Holiday  albums,  stuff  with  Art  Tatum — I  even  recorded  with 


WHY  OUR  PADS  OUT  TRIGGER 
THE  REST 

!  JL  .  ]: 

Designer  Pads  SP-Series 

aCv' 

fc  ,  *  The  position  of  the  pad  transducer  is  located 

%  ^  (  using  selective  ANTINODE  ALIGNMENT 

(SAAtm)  to  assure  optimum  performance. 
V  *  Familiar  round  shape  with  rim. 

v  •  Our  DESIGNER  PADS  are  made  of 

■  aluminum  which  can  be  hard  anodized, 

ml  ■  \  '  plated,  or  painted  to  your  specifications. 

*  Choice  of  connector  XLR  or  1/4". 

‘  *  Pad  skins  are  specifically  designed 

EpJ'  to  provide  the  same  rebound 

characteristics  as  acoustical  drums. 

HAMMgRHERtf 

Now  YOU  CAN  RETROFIT  YOUR  OLD  ACOUSTIC 
DRUM  PEDAL  INTO  AN  ELECTRONIC  TRIGGER 
PEDAL  FOR  A  FRACTION  OF  THE  COST  OF  A 

NEW  ELECTRONIC  PEDAL! 

David  Uosikkinen 

5  Standard  Sizes  5"  6"  8"  10"  12" 

SP500  SP600  SP80Q  Si’ 1000  SP1200 

Utilizing  the  dynamics  of  the  SHARK™  Force  Load  Sensor* 
the  HAMMERHEAD™  allows  simultaneous  triggering  of 
acoustic  and  electronic  drum  sounds,  or  triggering  of  purely 
electronic  drum  sounds. 

ON  TOUR  NOW  WITH 

The  HOOTERS 

Dealer  *  t\TYT  TT  Vk  T~’  Custom 

Inquiry  O  AP  P 1  IIK.P  Orders 

Welcome  percussions  Available 

7Stedman  Road.  #m  •  Lex  mgton,  Massachusetts  02173  *  (617)861-6193 

Available  through  your  music 

retailer  or  direct  from:  J^FWjtW 

SHARK  BYTE  Engineering  ‘Ife  Professiorurfs 1  Choice 

Route  2,  Box  573 
lone,  WA  99133 

Telephone  (509)  442-3078 

88 


MODERN  DRUMMER 


the  Ink  Spots.  Oscar  Peterson  and  I  often 
were  colleagues  on  sessions.  There  were 
dates  with  Roy  Eldridge,  Ben  Webster, 
Sweets  [Harry  Edison].  These  led  to  many 
others,  like  with  Buddy — I  did  his  vocal 
LPs — Ray  Brown,  Benny  Carter.  You  know, 
I've  even  made  records  with  Eddie  Pea¬ 
body,  the  banjo  player. 

"Let's  put  it  this  way,"  Stoller  continues. 
"In  order  to  perform  out  here — when  the 
scene  was  live  music,  as  opposed  to  syn¬ 
thesizers — you  had  to  be  capable  of  playing 
any  style,  walk  in  and  do  things  as  a  musi¬ 
cian.  You  had  to  be  more  than  just  a  drum¬ 
mer." 

At  one  point  in  our  interview,  Stoller  and 
I  endeavored  to  make  a  list  of  his  credits, 
particularly  in  TV  and  motion  pictures.  We 
started  off  with  The  Danny  Thomas  Show, 
The  Ray  Bolger  Show,  The  Andy  Griffith 
Show,  Happy  Days,  Emergency,  I  Love 
Lucy,  films  like  Jumbo,  Porgy  And  Bess, 
and  a  bunch  of  Elvis  Presley  films  at  MGM. 
He  kept  coming  up  with  others:  The  Mary 
Tyler  Moore  Show,  Little  House  On  The 
Prairie,  Man  nix,  Matlock,  more  films — 
Bullitt,  Funny  Girl,  Planet  Of  The  Apes, 
Sweet  Charity;  it  was  and  is  an  endless  list. 

"The  memories  come  back  as  we  talk," 
Stoller  smiles.  "There  were  some  live  gigs 
and  records  and  TV  with  Gene  Kelly,  Betty 
Grable,  Sammy  [Davis],  Sarah  Vaughan, 
Nat  'King'  Cole.  I  remember  we  had  nine 
drummers  when  we  did  the  TV  version  of 
Shogun.  Maurice  Jarre  wrote  the  music, 
and  there  were  all  kinds  of  native  Japanese 
percussive  effects.  On  one  segment  of  Spy 
with  Bill  Cosby  and  Bob  Culp,  we  had  a 
number  of  drummers  participating.  That  was 
great!" 

How  about  Stoller's  experiences  with 
Fred  Astaire?  "I'm  glad  you  asked  me  about 
Astaire,"  Stoller  grins  and  goes  on.  "He 
loved  music  and  musicians.  We  did  a  lot  of 
work  together  in  the  1950s  and  early 
1960s — records  and  his  TV  specials.  I 
helped  him  put  the  TV  shows  together, 
musically.  Astaire,  pianist  Bobby  Hannock, 
and  I  rehearsed  each  show,  bar  by  bar,  step 
by  step.  It  was  tedious  but  ultimately  worth¬ 
while. 

"We  rehearsed  six  or  seven  days  a  week. 
Hermes  Pan  was  the  choreographer.  Much 
of  the  time,  we  did  our  work  in  a  mortuary. 
How  about  that?  The  place  was  Willem 
Mortuary  on  Santa  Monica,  here  in  L.A. 
Astaire  didn't  want  to  be  bothered;  he 
needed  privacy.  They  had  this  big  room 
that  was  perfect  for  our  needs.  Astaire  liked 
it.  One  funny  thing  happened  there.  There 
was  this  fellow  who  used  to  stand  in  the 
doorway  of  the  room  and  watch  us.  I  asked 
him,  'Who  are  you?  And  what  are  you 
doing  here?'  He  turned  out  to  be  the  em- 
balmer." 

Credits  keep  piling  up  for  Stoller  as  the 
years  pass.  Except  for  a  brief  period — a 
year  and  a  half — when  he  worked  with 
Sam  Donahue's  house  band  at  the  Nugget 
in  Sparks,  Colorado,  he  has  been  on  the 
scene  in  Hollywood  steadily  for  more  than 
40  years.  A  dominant  presence  in  record- 


Attach  your  present  mailing  label  here f  or  write  in  your  old  address.  ” 1 
Please  include  customer  code  number. 


New  Address 


NAME: 


ADDRESS: 
CITY: _ 


STATE 


.ZIP 


LEARN  TO 
MAKE  MUSIC 
FROM  THE 
PEOPLE 
WHO  ARE 
MAKING  IT 


DRUMMERS 

COLLECTIVE 

541  Ave.  of  the  Americas 
New  York  NY  10011 
(212)  741-0091 


Drummers  Collective  offers  you 
private  instruction  with  great 
players  like  Rod  Morgenstein, 
Mike  Clark,  Kim  Plainfield,  Ricky 
Sebastian,  and  Frank  Malabe, 
each  of  whom  has  had  years  of 
playing,  recording,  and  teaching 
experience. 

We  also  offer  regularly  held 
small-group  master  classes  with 
many  top  drummers  such  as 
Dave  Weckl,  Peter  Erskine,  Steve 
Gadd,  Steve  Smith,  Gary 
Chaffee,  and  Kenny  Aronoff. 

There  simply  isn’t  a  more  com¬ 
prehensive  drum  program 
available  anywhere— we  offer 
courses  like: 

— Afro-Cuban/ Brazilian 
Rhythms  for  Drumset 
—Studio  Drumming 
—Electronic  Percussion 
—Rock  Drumming 
—Theory  and  Ear  Training 

—  Double  Bass  Drumming 
—Po!yrhythms/0dd  Meter  ^ 

—  Rhythm  Section  Workshops 

Ten  Week  Certificate  Program 

Classes  are  available  on  a  short¬ 
term  or  long-term  basis. 

Plus  Fully  equipped  practice 
facilities 

So  call  or  write  for  a  free  catalog 
and  enrollment  information. 


MODERN  DRUMMER 


89 


VING  TO  A 


No,  not  another  new  midi  disk.  But  ZerOrings™  from 
Noble  &  Cooley,  The  simplest  and  the  most 
effective  way  to  dampen  unwanted  head  ring* 
Installation  takes  seconds.  They  cost  next  to  zilch.  And 
you  can  adjust  them  to  get  exactly  the  sound  you  want 
Talk  to  your  dealer  for  all  the  details  or  write  us  at 
Water  Street* 

Granville,  MA  01034 


NOBLE  &  COOLEY 


The  World's  Best  Drums 


ing  and  studio  work,  Stoller  also  has  been 
seen  and  heard  on  jazz  and  popular  music 
gigs  in  the  L.A.  area  with  performers  like 
Sammy  Davis  and  Sweets  Edison. 

Stoller's  plans?  "I  want  to  work.  I  still 
love  to  play,"  he  declares.  "I  was  a  bit  ill 
last  year.  But  now  everything  seems  to  be 
righting  itself,  and  I'm  becoming  fully  ac¬ 
tive  again.  I  plan  to  record  with  my  wife 
Mary  Hatcher;  she  has  appeared  on  Broad¬ 
way  and  starred  in  some  pictures  out  here. 
I  continue  with  my  hobbies — riding,  rop¬ 
ing,  and  breeding  horses,  and  collecting 
western  firearms.  I  mostly  collect  antiques — 
American  Indian  drums  and  other  kinds  of 
percussion  instruments." 

For  those  who  might  not  have  had  the 
good  fortune  to  hear  Stoller  play,  he,  like 


other  formidable  drummers,  has  a  legacy 
that  provides  that  opportunity.  His  record¬ 
ings  with  Tatum,  Benny  Carter,  and  others 
tell  his  story  as  well  as  anything.  Stoller 
likes  the  version  of  "Goody,  Goody"  he 
made  with  Ella  Fitzgerald  on  Verve.  "The 
feeling  is  good;  Nat  Pierce  wrote  the  chart," 
he  says.  He  thinks  a  lot  of  the  Sinatra  things 
he  did  with  Nelson  Riddle  on  Capitol  and 
Reprise — the  most  recent  being  "Mrs. 
Robinson."  He  also  singles  out  the  Billy 
May  album  Sorta  Dixie,  Sorta  May  (Capi¬ 
tol),  and  Let  Yourself  Co,  a  Riddle  set  (Capi¬ 
tol). 

"Another  I'm  particularly  partial  to  is  Jim¬ 
mie  Lunceford  In  Hi  Fi  [Capitol]  by  Billy 
May,  featuring  a  number  of  the  Lunceford 
musicians  and  some  top  studio  guys.  It's  far 


more  than  a  re-creation,"  Stoller  insists.  "Still 
another  album  that  I  like  is  The  Music  From 
M  Squad  [RCA  Victor],  with  an  orchestra 
conducted  by  Stanley  Wilson.  It  showcases 
some  great  musicians — the  great  composer 
and  conductor  John  Williams  on  piano, 
trumpeters  Conrad  Gozzo  and  Don  Fager- 
quist — and  the  performances  are  enthusi¬ 
astic,  full  of  feeling,  and  precise  enough  to 
make  the  music  really  work." 

The  latter  two  albums  feature  particu¬ 
larly  representative  and  impressive  Alvin 
Stoller  drumming.  On  the  M  Squad  set,  he 
mingles  a  crisp  swing  style,  stemming  from 
Buddy  Rich,  with  modern  techniques  that 
are  the  direct  result  of  the  effect  Max  Roach 
had  on  him  in  the  1940s.  His  perform¬ 
ances  are  solid;  Stoller  is  in  control  and 
provides  a  fluid  pulse,  a  contemporary  feel. 
The  Lunceford  offering  is  a  reflection  of 
Stoller's  roots  in  swing  music.  He  does  an 
effective,  highly  authentic  job  making  the 
Lunceford  music  live  again.  His  best  work 
is  on  "Well,  Alright  Then";  a  smooth,  eight- 
bar  press  roll  solo,  in  the  tradition  of  the 
late  Jimmy  Crawford,  is  a  highlight  of  the 
track.  More  good  examples  of  Stoller  solos 
can  be  found  on  Hi  Fi  Drums  (Capitol),  a 
package  co-starring  Buddy  Rich  and  Chuck 
Fiores  (with  Woody  Herman),  Louie  Bellson 
(with  the  Just  Jazz  All-Stars),  Dave  Black 
(with  Duke  Ellington),  and  Stoller,  Stan 
Levey,  and  Irv  Cottier  with  the  Billy  May 
Orchestra. 

"I've  had  a  full  bouquet  of  flowers,  a 
great  career,"  Stoller  concludes.  "I've  been 
blessed,  having  had  the  chance  to  play  all 
sorts  of  music  with  great  players  and  dyna¬ 
mite  conductors.  I  was  fortunate  to  come 
on  the  scene  during  the  big  band  era  when 
New  York  was  in  its  beautiful  heyday.  And 
my  luck  held.  I  moved  to  L.A.  when  things 
were  just  really  starting  up  in  TV  and  films. 
And  I  became  a  part  of  much  of  the  music 
made  out  here.  Time  and  experience 
haven't  changed  my  feelings.  I'm  still  en¬ 
thusiastic  about  music  and  drums  and  the 
challenge  of  new  work.  I  look  forward  to 
what  tomorrow  might  bring."  qb 


CONFUSED  ABOUT 
YOUR  SUBSCRIPTION? 

We’re  not  perfect*  and 
mixups  can  occur 
if  youTe  at  ail  confused  about  your 
subscription  or  renewal,  just  call  an 
MD  Service  Rep  at 
1-800-435-0715 

(Mon  -  Fri  8:30  AM  -  4:30  PM  CST) 

In  Illinois  call 
1-815-734-6309 
For  Immediate  Assistance* 


ddrum 

Real  drums  never  sounded  so  good . 
Digital  drums  never  felt  so  good. 
25  Lindeman  Drive 
Trumbull,  CT  06611 

(203)  374-0020 


90 


MODERN  DRUMMER 


Thank  you  readers  of  Modem 
Drummer  for  voting  me  into 
the  1989  Hall  of  Fame 


Carl 

Palmer 


CARL  PALMER 

Applied 

Rhythms 


vfooeR/i 

DfUimmeR  Publications,  I  nr. 
Distributed  by  Hal  Leonard  Publications 


INDUSTRY  HAPPENINGS 


1989DCI 

CHAMPIONSHIP 

RESULTS 

Drum  Corps  International  returned  to 
Kansas  City  for  the  second  year  in  a  row 
(instead  of  the  previously  announced 
Montreal)  for  the  1989  edition  of  "The 
Summer  Music  Games:  The  Sound  and 
Fury."  A  full  week  of  competition  and 
festivities  began  in  the  concert  hall  and 
ended  on  the  football  field. 

A  unique  event  took  place  on  Monday 
evening,  August  14th,  in  the  downtown 
Kansas  City  Music  Hall:  a  joint  concert 
featuring  the  Kansas  City  Symphony  and 
the  Phantom  Regiment  Drum  &  Bugle 
Corps  (from  Rockford/Loves  Park,  Illinois). 
The  orchestra  opened  the  show,  and  then 
was  joined  on  stage  by  the  Regiment's  70- 
member  horn  line  for  a  performance  of 
"Elsa's  Procession  To  The  Cathedral"  from 
Wagner's  Lohengrin.  Following  the 
concert,  the  Phantom  Regiment  played 
their  entire  1989  musical  program  in  the 
outdoor  plaza  across  the  street  from  the 
Music  Hall.  It  was  a  moving  experience  to 
see  two  seemingly  opposite  disciplines — 
marching  and  symphonic — come  together 
as  one  to  share  a  common  bond  of  music. 

Tuesday  evening  featured  the  Class  A 
and  A-60  championships.  The  Class  A 
winners  were  the  Ventures,  an  all-female 


corps  from  Kitchener/Waterloo,  Ontario, 
Canada.  The  A-60  winners  were  the  Blue 
Stars  from  LaCrosse,  Wisconsin. 

The  individuals  competition  allowed 
corps  members  to  perform  solos  in  an 
independent  setting  from  their  full  corps' 
performance.  This  popular  event  has 
drawn  so  many  participants  and  spectators 
that  it  was  expanded  over  a  two-day 
period  (August  15-16).  The  Star  of  Indiana 
(from  Bloomington,  Indiana)  had  two 
winners  from  their  drum  line:  snare 
drummer  Rich  Viano  (who  scored  a  98.0) 
and  timpanist  Kirk  Gay  (who  scored  a 
96.0).  For  the  second  year  in  a  row,  "Best 
Individual  Keyboard"  was  awarded  to  the 
Madison  (Wisconsin)  Scouts'  Mike 
Knudson,  who  scored  a  perfect  100.  J.J. 
Pepitone  of  Dutch  Boy  (from  Kitchener/ 
Waterloo,  Ontario)  won  the  multi-tenor 
award  with  a  score  of  99.0.  Two  percus¬ 
sion  ensembles  from  the  Santa  Clara 
(California)  Vanguard  came  in  first  and 
tied  for  second,  scoring  99.0  and  98.0, 
respectively. 

A  feature  new  to  the  week  of  competi¬ 
tion  was  the  addition  of  the  top  12  corps 
to  the  Thursday  preliminary  competition. 
That  night  saw  the  Phantom  Regiment 
scoring  one-tenth  above  the  Vanguard, 
only  to  have  the  placings  reversed  after 
DCI  removed  a  two-tenth  penalty 
(regarding  the  grounding  of  non-percus¬ 
sion  items  in  the  pit  area).  This  was  an 
indication  of  how  closely  contested  the 


title  was  going  to  be. 

The  "prelims"  performances  on  Friday 
evening  (August  18)  were  to  be  the  last 
ones  of  the  season  for  two  corps  in  last 
year's  top  12.  The  Sky  Ryders  from 
Hutchinson,  Kansas  and  the  Spirit  of 
Atlanta  from  Atlanta,  Georgia  tied  for  14th 
with  a  score  of  82.2.  For  the  second  year 
in  a  row,  Dutch  Boy  took  the  "unlucky 
13th"  position,  just  barely  missing  out  on 
a  top-12  spot  in  the  finals  by  three-tenths 
of  a  point. 

The  1989  World  Championship 
competition  took  place  on  Saturday 
evening  (August  19)  in  Arrowhead 
Stadium.  The  contest  began  with  a 
welcome  return  by  the  Crossmen  from 
Westchester,  Pennsylvania.  A  former  top- 
12  corps,  they  continued  their  climb  back 
with  a  score  of  84.0  for  12th  place  (13.3 
in  drums).  Their  repertoire  of  "Wind 
Machine,"  "The  Waltz,"  and  "How  High 
The  Sun  (Moon)"  showcased  the  corps' 
jazz  style.  Next  up  were  the  zany  antics  of 
the  Velvet  Knights  from  Anaheim, 
California,  who  scored  an  87.0  for  11th 
place  (13.6  in  drums).  The  corps  traveled 
to  Rio  de  Janeiro  for  "Yo  Mambo" 
followed  by  "Velvet  Knights  In  Tunisia" 
(which  is  self-explanatory!).  The  drum 
solo  expanded  the  concept  of  bass 
drumming:  Twelve  set  bass  drums  were 
carried  out  on  the  field  (complete  with 
foot  pedals!)  to  be  played  by  members  of 
the  snare  and  tenor  lines,  which  high¬ 
lighted  the  music  with  lots  of  "punch." 

Another  corps  welcomed  back  to  the 
top  12  was  the  Freelancers  from  Sacra¬ 
mento,  California.  Coming  in  tenth  place 
with  a  score  of  87.3  (12.7  in  drums),  they 
performed  music  of  John  Williams, 
including  selections  from  E.T.  and  Empire 
Of  The  Sun.  Following  a  year  of  inactivity 
in  1986,  it  was  good  to  see  another 
polished  corps  from  California  back  in  the 
spotlight. 

The  most  miraculous  metamorphosis  of 
the  summer  had  to  be  Suncoast  Sound 
from  Tampa  Bay,  Florida.  Beginning  the 
summer  in  extreme  financial  difficulty,  the 
corps  rallied  themselves  as  the  months 
progressed,  finally  scoring  an  88.0  (13.1 
in  drums)  for  ninth  place.  Their  contempo¬ 
rary  program  was  based  on  "Florida 
Suite,"  an  original  composition  for  the 
corps  by  Robert  W.  Smith.  In  the  "Native 
Rites"  movement,  the  pit  creatively  used 
various  woodblocks  and  log  drums,  along 
with  chanting  in  the  horn  line. 

Coming  in  eighth  place  with  a  score  of 
90.3  (13.0  in  drums)  were  the  Bluecoats 
from  Canton,  Ohio.  Known  for  their  "big 
band"  style  and  sound,  the  corps' 
repertoire  included  "Johnny  One  Note," 
"My  Funny  Valentine"  (complete  with  a 
"surrealistic  heart"-shaped  drill),  and 
"Sing,  Sing,  Sing." 

Last  year's  world  champion  Madison 
Scouts  finished  the  1989  season  in 


MODERN  DRUMMER 


■DC\ 

MUSIC  VIDEO 


PETER  ERSKINE 
EVERYTHING  IS 
TIMEKEEPING 

A  wealth  of  ideas  and 
information  plus  in¬ 
credible  performances 
featuring  John  Aber¬ 
crombie  and  Marc 
Johnson.  Peter  demon¬ 
strates  and  discusses 
the  jazz  ride  pattern, 
ride  cymbal  technique, 
basic  jazz  indepen¬ 
dence,  improvisation 
and  composition  on  the 
drumset  and  more. 
Booklet  included, 


DAVE  me KL 
THE  NEXT  STEP 

Dave  concentrates  on 
time  playing,  construc¬ 
ting  a  groove,  beat 
displacement,  (playing 
backwards),  cymbal 
technique,  phrasing, 
creating  a  drum  part, 
playing  in  odd  times, 
and  soloing.  This  video 
also  features  three 
songs  from  Contem¬ 
porary  Drummer  +  One, 
a  latin  groove,  and 
some  fantastic  solos. 

BACK  TO  BASICS 

Dave  outlines  his 
philosophy  and  techni¬ 
cal  approach  to  the 
drums,  covering  stick 
control,  foot  technique, 
brushes,  and  in¬ 
dependence,  He  also 
performs  with  several 
tracks  from  Contem¬ 
porary  Drummer  +  One 
and  plays  some  ex¬ 
plosive  solos. 


TERRY  &OIZIO 
SOLO  DRUMS 

Terry  presents  his 
overall  approach  to  the 
drum  set  starting  with 
an  incredible  solo  that 
he  breaks  down  section 
by  section,  explaining 
each  technique  used 
He  also  covers  double 
bass  drumming,  hand 
technique.  4-way  in¬ 
dependence.  and  offers 
a  study  of  his  drum  part 
for  CIS,  Drag  Booklet 
included 


STEVE  SMITH 
PART  ONE 

Steve  describes  and 
demonstrates  methods 
for  developing  time  and 
meter  and  his  basic  ap¬ 
proach  to  rock  and  jazz. 
This  video  also  includes 
some  incredible  solos 
and  performances  with 
Steve’s  group  Vital  In¬ 
formation.  Best  Music  In¬ 
struction  Video  of  1987 
(American  Video 
Awards).  Booklet 

included. 

PART  TWO 

An  ©xcit  i  ng  foil  ow-u  p 
with  invaluable  tips  on 
double  bass  drumming, 
developing  creativity, 
soloing,  and  creating  a 
drum  part.  This  video 
includes  rare  in-concert 
footage  of  Steps 
Ahead,  plus  great  per¬ 
formances  by  Vital  In¬ 
formation.  Booklet 
included. 


ROD  MORGEN5TEIN 

PUTTING  IT  ALL 
TOGETHER 

Rod  discusses  how  to 
develop  versatility, 
creating  a  drum  pari, 
techniques  for  playing 
in  odd  time  signatures, 
and  his  approach  to 
ghost  strokes  and  dou¬ 
ble  bass  drumming. 
On-screen  graphics 
included. 


WE  SET  THE  STANDARD. 


STEVE  GADD 


SSSI 

STEVE  GADD 

m  session 

Presents  90-minutes  of 
incredible  music  and 
dialogue  by  Steve  Gadd 
with  Will  Lee,  Eddie 
Gomez,  Richard  Tee 
and  the  late  Jorge 
Dalto.  This  classic 
video  will  give  you  a 
behind-the-scenes  look 
at  masters  at  work  as 
they  arrange  tunes, 
work  on  grooves,  and 
play  funk,  latin,  reggae, 
shuffles,  and  ballads. 

UP  CLOSE 

Steve  discusses  his  in¬ 
fluences  and  demon¬ 
strates  some  of  the 
classic  drum  parts  that 
he  has  played  on  hit 
records  like  "Fifty  Ways 
to  Leave  Your  Lover."  In 
addition  to  playing 
some  great  solos,  Steve 
shows  how  he  applies 
rudiments  to  the 
drumset  and  demon¬ 
strates  his  bass  drum 
technique. 


VIDEOS 

□  PETER  ERSKINE,  Everything  Is  Timekeeping 

wftooklet  (85  min.)  $4995 

□  DAVE  WECKL,  Beck  to  Basics  (72  min.)  $39  95 

□  DAVE  WECKL,  The  Next  Step  (80  min.)  £39,95 

□  TERRY  3QZZI0.  Soto  Drums  ^booklet  (55  min.)  $39.95 

□  STEVE  SMITH,  Part  One  w/booklei  (55  min.)  $39.95 

□  STEVE  SMITH,  Perl  TWo  w/booklet  (54  min }  $3995 


□  ROD  MORGENSTEIN,  Putting  It  All  Together 

(SO  min.)  $39.95 

□  STEVE  GADD,  In  Session  (90  min.)  £49.95  New  Price' 

□  STEVE  GADD,  Up  Close  [60  min.)  $39.95  New  Price' 

□  Latin  American  Percussion  w/booklet  (45  min.)  $39.95 

□  ZUdjten  Day  In  New  York  (45  min.)  £39.95 

□  JOE  FRANCO,  Double  Bass  Drumming  (52  min.)  $39.95 


□  KENNY  ARONOFF,  Laying  It  Down  W/booklei 
(60  min.)  $39.95 

Snare  Drum  Rudiments  w/pamphlet  (30  min.)  $29.95 

□  DAVE  SAMUELS,  Mallet  Keyboard  Vol.  I 

(60  min.)  £49.95 

□  DAVE  SAMUELS,  Mallet  Keyboard  Vol.  It 

(40  min.)  $49.95  Pair:  £89.95 


AUDIOS 

□  DAVE  WECKL,  Contemporary  Drummer  +  Oner  90-min,  cassette,  40-page  book,  charts  £32.95 

□  ROD  MORGENSTEIN  (each  includes  two  60  min  cassettes  and  book) 

□  Grooving  In  Stytes/FItflng  In  the  Holes  $24.95  E  Odd  Times  $24,95  □  Double  Bess  Drumming  $24.95  D  Alt  Three  Morgensteln  Packages  369,95 

□  DANNY  GOTTLIEB,  Drumming  Concepts  (two  60  minute  audio  Japes)  $21.95 


Make  check  payable  to:  DCI  MUSIC  VIDEO  INC,  541  AVENUE  OF  THE  AMERICAS,  NY,  NY  10011 

Add  S4.0O  postage  and  handling  per  order  (£5.00  per  Bpe  outside  U,SJ  N.Y.  State  residents  add  8Yj%  sales  tax.  Allow  2-4  weeks  delivery.  PAL  available-add  $6.00  per  tape. 

To  oidor  by  phone:  1  -8 00 -342-45 00  Mon. -Sat  1DAM-9PM  EST  In  New  York  State:  (212)  691-1884 


Name. 


Address. 


City. 


State _ Zlp_ 


Mastercard  /Visa 


(circle  one)  Card#_ 


.  Country. 


_  Phone. 


VH5. 


■  Exp,. 


Sig. . 


In  Europe:  Music  Mail  Ltd,,  142  Cromwell  Rd.,  London  SW7  4EF,  England  Tel:  01-857-6309 
In  Canada:  Orders  must  be  paid  with  International  Money  Order  or  check  drawn  on  a  U  S.  bank 


oa 


MD  01/90 


Available  at  your  local  music  dealer.  music  viDao 


seventh  place  with  a  score  of  93.6  (14.0  in 
drums).  After  opening  with  "Make  His 
Praise  Glorious,"  the  corps  brought  back 
an  old  favorite  in  the  form  of  "Slaughter 
On  Tenth  Avenue."  This  second  piece  was 
"interrupted"  by  a  drum  solo  of  "Three 
Blind  Mice."  One  of  their  marching 
cymbal  players  even  did  a  cartwheel/ 
handstand  on  the  field! 

Star  of  Indiana  moved  up  yet  another 
place  in  their  steady  climb  upward  to 
finish  in  sixth  place  with  a  score  of  95.3 
(14.7  in  drums).  The  corps  was  sporting  a 
new  all-British  image — from  their  new 
uniforms,  complete  with  a  plaid  sash,  to 
their  music.  Their  repertoire  of  Walton's 
"Henry  V,"  Hoist's  "Song  Without  Words" 
and  "Fantasia  On  The  Dargason,"  and 
Walton's  "Crown  Imperial"  brought  back 
past  memories  of  other  corps. 

Next  up  the  Cadets  of  Bergen  County 
(formerly  known  as  the  Garfield  Cadets) 
took  the  field  to  present  their  production 
of  the  popular  musical  Les  Miserables. 
Scoring  a  95.6  (14.5  in  drums)  for  fifth 
place,  the  corps  covered  a  wide  variety  of 
musical  emotions.  A  slow-motion  fight 
scene  was  one  of  the  visual  highlights, 
and  the  keyboards  in  the  pit  were  kept 
busy  with  constant  runs  up  and  down  the 
instruments.  Two  different  songs  resolved 
into  one  finale  as  the  show  drew  to  a 
close. 

The  Blue  Devils  from  Concord, 


California  scored  a  95.9  (14.3  in  drums) 
for  fourth  place.  Attired  in  all  black  and 
white,  the  "Blue  Crew"  performed  their 
trademark  jazz  repertoire,  including  "Ya 
Gotta  Try,"  "If  We  Were  In  Love,"  "Al- 
legre,"  and  "Johnny  One  Note."  Their 
show  opened  to  a  silent  drill  followed  by 
a  big  musical  entrance.  Despite  a  few 
shaky  soprano  solos,  the  corps  performed 
well.  The  Blue  Devils  also  had  one  of  the 
largest  pits,  featuring  13  keyboards! 

Scoring  a  97.2  (14.8  in  drums)  for  third 
place  were  the  Cavaliers  from  Rosemont, 
Illinois.  John  Rutter's  "Gloria"  opened  and 
closed  the  program,  framing  an  original 
composition  of  "Images  Diabolique."  The 
Cavaliers'  flashy  cymbal  line  was  supple¬ 
mented  by  a  dozen  guard  members  for  a 
cymbal  "company  front"  of  20  players! 

The  Phantom  Regiment  poured  their 
heart  out  into  their  performance  of 
Dvorak's  New  World  Symphony  entitled 
"From  The  New  World... Into  A  New 
Age."  Unfortunately,  their  score  of  98.4 
(14.4  in  drums)  was  only  good  enough  for 
second  place.  Painting  a  picture  of  white 
with  black  accents  (and  black  drums)  on 
the  field,  their  near-perfect  visual  program 
complemented  their  music  as  though  it 
were  choreography.  The  powerful  horn 
line's  range  stretched  from  strong  impacts 
to  subtle  nuances,  and  the  drum  line 
performed  a  "music  box"  rendition  of 
Dvorak's  "Slavonic  Dance  No.  1."  And, 


yes,  that  was  the  Phantom  Regiment 
playing  a  jazz  variation  complete  with 
ride  cymbals  and  rimshots! 

Following  four  "bridesmaid"  finishes  in 
second  place,  this  was  finally  the  year  for 
the  Santa  Clara  Vanguard.  Winning  the 
1989  Summer  Music  Games  with  a  record 
high  score  of  98.8,  they  also  won  "high 
drums"  with  a  score  of  14.9  (out  of  15). 
Performing  The  Phantom  Of  The  Opera 
for  the  second  year  in  a  row,  the  Vanguard 
pulled  out  enough  "tricks"  (including  a 
disappearing  Phantom  and  even  a 
disappearing  corps!)  to  win  them  the  title 
for  the  second  time  this  decade.  The  entire 
corps  wore  "phantom"  masks  throughout 
the  show,  and  the  pit  wore  decorative 
masks  in  the  "Masquerade"  movement 
(which  almost  caused  them  a  penalty  in 
Thursday's  prelims).  Despite  a  controversy 
involving  two  overage  members  (who  did 
not  compete  in  Kansas  City),  DCI's  newly- 
crowned  champions  were  proud  of  their 
victory. 

Fans,  members,  and  staff  alike  are 
eagerly  looking  forward  to  entering  a  new 
decade  of  drum  corps.  The  1990  DCI 
Championships  will  be  held  in  Buffalo, 
New  York  and  then  move  south  to  Dallas, 
Texas  in  1991.  Happy  Marching! 

— Lauren  Vogel 


^  Super  Gloss  ^ 
^  Drum  Material  X 

$4999 

Super  Gloss  If  Plus 
(Black  or  While,  5  pc.  St  is, 
other  colors  $59  99) 

Hours:  Moru-Fri. 

Whether  you  have  1  drum  Eastern  10-8 

or  10,000,  we  have  enough  Central  9-7 

to  do  the  job.  Why  pay  Mountain  8-6 

more  and  settle  for  less?  ^  K 


We  now  offer  a  new  space  age 
superior  line  of  material  called 
‘Super  Gloss  11  Plus.”  It  resists 
heat  incredibly  well  and  is  suited 
for  indoor  and  outdoor  use. 

Six  years  in  business,  rtow  selling 
technologically  advanced  space  age 
drum  material  to  beginners,  pro¬ 
fessionals,  drum  shops,  studios, 
manufacturers,  and  the  world! 


We  ship  C  O  D, 
Dealer  inquiries  welcomed 


Some  of  the 

most  enlightening 
articles  in  a 
magazine  never 
make  it  to  the  table 
of  contents; 


Open  10  the  table  of  contents 
in  any  publication  and  you  can 
►  rind  some  Insightful  storiesCiWIl 
also  find  some  m  issing.  Because 
rhe  advertising  isn’t  there. 

Advertising  is  important,  it's 
informative.  It  Sets  you  know  your 
options.  And  helps  you  to  make 
decisions. 

Like  which  car  to  buy.  Which 
airline  to  fly.  And  what  to  serve 
for  dinner. 

So,  next  lime  you  open  a  maga¬ 
zine,  read  it.  From  com  to  cover. 

Because  what's  on  the  back 
cover  may  be  rust  as  important  as 
whats  on  the  front. 

ADVERTISING. 

Without  it  you  wouldn't  know. 


AAF 


MODERN  DRUMMER 


to  GRAND  PRIZES  25  FIRST  PRIZES 


10  Grand  Pm  Winners  will  recede  toTs  new  custom  lour  petal.  The 
top  quality  teaitefiwod  jacket  features  a  large  full  back  patch  and  embfoi 
dered  tol  logo  on  the  from 


Z5  First  Prize  Winners  wdl  receive  tots  new  cotton  gig  pckei  touting 
a  hill  embroidered  fteart  logo  w  the  back,  the  g*j  petal  atea  has  a  drumset 
embroidered  on  the  front 


100  Second  Prize  Wioneis  will  receive  tot's  new  sweai  sets  Included  300  Third  Prize  Winners  will  receive  ftearfs  new  canvas  slick  bag  with 

m  the  sweat  set  are  a  parr  of  Pearl  sweat  pants,  a  Pearl  sweat  shin  sfver  Pearl  logo  The  u>serior  of  tors  new  sock  bag  remains  porkers 

and  a  pair  of  Nike  shoes  with  tol  logo  patch  lor  your  lavonre  slicks  and  accessories 

To  be  eligible  tor  Peart's  to  End  drummer's  Sweepstake  09  yea  must  meet  the  following  simple  requirement:  You  must  have  purchased  any  new  Pearl 

Dfumset  HOC  EX,  WX.  WLX,  BLX,  MX,  MIX  CZX)  of  4  pcs.  or  more  between  the  dates  of  1TT03  to  T'&BO,  From  an  authorized  Ftearl  Dealer  laskl  .  m  M 

To  enter  send  a  copy  of  your  safes  receipt  Inon  returnable!  to  Pearf  International,  tor  End  Drummer's  Sweepstaka  PO  Box  l!t240,  Nashvilla  TN  3722?  mm 

All  enmes  most  be  postmarked  by  KM).  Please  include  your  name  aga  address,  phone  I.  jacket  size,  and  shoe  size  Official  drawing  will  be  held 

?  15  90  Winners  will  be  notified  by  mail  Offer  valid  m  USA  only,  for  a  complete  list  of  all  contest  rules,  write  to  fearl,  International  Ipiease  include  S  AS  E I  1 1  jt*  [jest  rww  >11  to  n 


AND  NOTABLE 


NEW 


LUDWIG  OFFERS 
PRO  TRAVELER 
VIBE 


Ludwig  has  announced  the  Musser  M-48 
Pro  Travelers ibraphone,  which  the 
company  says  they  developed  with  the 
working  vibraphonist  in  mind.  The  M-48, 
designed  by  Musser  engineers  in  collabo¬ 
ration  with  vibist  Gary  Burton,  incorpo¬ 
rates  the  professional  features  of  Musser's 
M-55  Pro  Vibe  and  M-75  Century  Vibe 
with  complete  portability  for  easy 
transport,  storage,  and  setup.  The  M-48 
has  a  range  of  three  octaves  (F-3  to  F-6) 


and  is  pitched  to  A=440.  (Optional  A=442 
tuning  is  also  available.)  The  unit  is 
constructed  with  the  same  wide,  gradu¬ 
ated  bars  that  are  standard  on  the  Pro  and 
Century  model  vibes.  It  includes  a  115- 
volt  6-cycle  variable-speed  motor  as 
standard  equipment. 

The  M-48  can  be  transported  in  small 
vehicles  and  disassembles  into  compact, 
lightweight  sections.  Its  rails  collapse  and 
fold  in  half,  avoiding  extended  pieces. 
Musser  has  also  developed  a  crossbar  and 
damper  bar  mechanism  that  separates  into 
two  pieces  for  easy  packing.  Since  the 
bars  of  the  M-55  and  M-75  are  completely 
adaptable  to  the  frame  of  the  M-48, 

Musser  also  offers  the  Pro  Traveler  frame 
as  a  separate  item.  In  addition,  a  light¬ 
weight  case  package  is  available  for  the 
M-48.  Ludwig  Industries,  Inc.,  P.O.  Box 
310,  Elkhart,  IN  46515-0310. 

DIXON  HI-HAT 
HARDWARE 

Dixon's  PSHX-1  auxiliary  hi-hat  uses  a 
regular  clutch  to  hold  the  top  hat,  plus  a 
height/tension-adjustable  bottom  hat 
seat  to  allow  for  closed-tension  adjust¬ 
ment  from  either  top  down  or  bottom 


up.  It  also  features  a  geared  tilter  to 
provide  more  positioning  flexibility. 

Dixon's  PSHK-7D  drop  clutch  consists 
of  two  parts,  a  "clamp"  and  a  "clutch," 
which  fit  all  central  pull  rods  of  any 
existing  hi-hat  stand.  The  clamp  part  has  a 
smooth  action  spring  to  release  or  grab  the 
clutch.  The  clamp  is  pushed  down  to  grab 
the  clutch  for  use  in  an  open  hat  position, 
and  a  light  tap  of  the  stick  on  the  clamp 
will  release  the  clutch  for  the  closed  hat 
position.  Dixon  is  distributed  exclusively 
by:  D  &  H  Music,  415  Greenwell  Ave., 
Cincinnati,  OH  45238-5389,  (513)451- 
5000,  and  Scott  Music  Supply,  2920 
Cypress  St,  West  Monroe,  LA  71291, 
(318)388-2022. 

LP  MATADOR 
WOOD  CONGAS 
AND  LUGGER 
BRACKET 

LP  Music  Group  has  announced  its  new 
line  of  Mala  dor  wood  congas.  The  congas 
are  made  from  Siam  oak,  are  available  in 
11",  11  3/4",  and  12  1/2"  head  sizes,  and 
feature  traditional-style  rims  constructed 


MIKE  SALTER  MALLETS 
P.O.  Box  531  Northbrook,  IL  60065 
Phone:  (708)  498-4787  FAX:  (708)  496*6125 


Depot 

Keep  sticks 
out  of  the  way 
and  right 
within  reach. 


Grab 
a  stick 
quick! 


Another  innovation  from  M  ® 

protnsiA 

»  Our  reputation  is  in  your  hands. 


The  “Stick  Depot”  holds 
drumsticks  in  perfect 
position  .  .  .  out  of  the 
way,  yet  ready  when  you 
need  them. 


damps  easily  to  a  hi  -hat 
stand,  floor  tom,  cymbal 
stand,  etc.  Right  where 
you  need  it 


Chrome  tubes  are  easily 
adjustable  to  desired 
angle. 


See  your  local  dealer  or  send  $8.00  each 
to  Pro-Mark,  10707  Craighead  I)rM  Houston, 
TX  77025.  Send  $2  for  new  color  catalog. 


96 


MODERN  DRUMMER 


GIVE  THE  CHRISTMAS  GIFT 
THAT  LASTS  ALL  YEAR  LONG! 


A  Christmas  gift  subscription  to 
Modern  Drummer  Magazine  is  one  of 
the  nicest  gifts  you  can  give  a  drummer. 

It’s  a  year-round  reminder  of  your  thoughtful¬ 
ness.  A  gift  that  will  be  enjoyed  and  appreci¬ 
ated  long  after  the  others  have  been  stuffed 
away  in  the  closet! 

It  also  offers  YOU  one-stop,  hassle-free 
shopping.  No  wrapping,  long  lines,  crowded 
stores,  or  gift  cards  to  buy.  We  handle  it  all. 
We'll  even  mail  a  gift  card  to  that  special 
someone  in  your  name. 

You  can  use  your  credit  card,  or  we  can  bill 
you  later  if  you  prefer.  For  faster  service,  call 
Toll  Free:  1-800-435-0715. 

Bring  Christmas  joy  to  a  drummer 
friend  or  relative  every  month  through¬ 
out  the  year,  with  a  gift  subscription 
to  the  world's  leading  drum  maga¬ 
zine.  They’ll  think  of  you  all  year 
through— and  love  you  for  it! 


Please  send  a  One  Year  gifi  subscription  at  $25.05  for  12  monthly  issues.  Send  a  Two  Year  gift  for  only  $46.95. 


Payment  enclosed  1  I 

Bill  Me  EH 

Master  Card  \~\ 

Visa  EH 

1  Year  i 

2  Years  EH 

Card  # 

Exp.  Date 

Send  Gift  To: 

Gift  front: 

Name 

Name 

Address 

Address 

Citv.  Slate,  Zip 

Citv.  Slate.  Zip 

Rales  good  in  U..S.,  Canada,  and  Mexico.  For  foreign  delivery  send  $31.95  lor  one  year.  $52.95  for  two  years  (U.S.  Currency  only).  Add  an 
additional  $65.00  per  year  for  air  mail 


from  heavy-gauge  steel. 

Also  new  from  LP  is  their  Lugger 
Bracket ,  which  mounts  cowbells,  wood¬ 
blocks,  and  other  percussion  instruments 
directly  onto  the  tuning  screws  of  tim¬ 
bales,  set  drums,  or  marching  drums.  The 
bracket  is  made  from  heavy-gauge, 
chrome-plated  steel,  and  comes  with  a 
3/8"-thick  steel  rod  that  is  adjustable  to  9". 
Latin  Percussion,  Inc.,  160  Belmont  Ave., 
Garfield,  NJ  07026. 


ZILDJIAN  SCIMITAR 
BRONZE  CYMBALS 


Labor  of  Love 


Send  /of free  coufse  catalog . 


Percussion  Institute  of  Technology 

Musicians  Institute  1655  McCadden  Place .  Box  474 
Hollywood,  CA  90028  .  <213}  462-1384 


Zildjian  has  launched  a  new  line  of 
cymbals  called  Scimitar  Bronze,  which, 
according  to  the  company,  are  profes¬ 
sional-quality  sheet  bronze  cymbals  that 
are  affordable  even  to  the  entry-level 
drummer.  Models  available  in  this  range 
include  18"  and  20"  rides,  16"  and  18" 
crashes,  14"  hi-hats,  and  an  18"  China.  A 
factory  pre-selected  Scimitar  Bronze 
cymbal  setup  consisting  of  a  20"  ride,  a 
16"  crash,  and  14"  hi-hats  is  also  available 
in  a  newly  designed  carrying  pack. 

Zildjian  says  that  the  Scimitar  Bronze 
range  features  new  profiles  and  combina¬ 
tions  of  hammering  that  produces  cymbals 
with  fast  response  and  quick  decay  and 
with  colorful  yet  clean  overtones. 

Zildjian  has  also  announced  that  its 
most  recent  ad  campaign  is  now  available 
in  poster  form.  Under  the  theme  "More  Of 
The  World's  Great  Drummers  Play 
Zildjians  Than  All  Other  Cymbals 
Combined,"  the  campaign  features  top 
Zildjian  artists  involved  in  activities  other 
than  playing  drums,  from  various  sports 
activities  to  just  reading  to  "hanging  out." 
Avedis  Zildjian  Company,  22  Longwater 
Dr.,  Norwell,  MA  02061. 

PURECUSSION 

MUFF'IT 

PureCussion's  Muff'it drum  mufflers  are 
made  from  a  closed-cell  foam  material 
featuring  a  unique  non-curing  adhesive 
backing  that  lets  drummers  experiment 
with  placement  for  desired  sound.  In 
addition  to  being  sold  separately,  Muff'its 
are  also  now  being  installed  on  PureCus- 
sion  drumsets  as  standard  equipment. 
According  to  the  company,  small  patches 
of  the  Muff'it  material,  easily  trimmed 
from  strips,  also  work  on  cowbells, 
cymbals,  and  other  percussion  instru¬ 
ments.  Five  15"  strips  are  furnished  in  the 
bass  drum  package,  which  allows  full- 
perimeter  coverage  of  up  to  24"  bass 
drums.  Ten  narrower  15"  strips  make  up 
the  tom  package  and  effectively  mute  all 
the  toms  in  a  typical  five-piece  kit. 
PureCussion,  Inc.,  5957  West  37th  St., 
Minneapolis,  MN  55416. 

NEW  YAMAHA 
BRASS  SNARE 
DRUM  AND  STICKS 

Yamaha  has  announced  its  newest  snare 
drum,  the  5  1/2"  brass  shell  model  SD  495. 
The  company  describes  the  drum  as  an 
all-purpose  snare,  ideal  for  jazz,  rock,  and 
recording  applications.  It  features  ten  lugs, 
Yamaha  Power  Hoops,  and  Yamaha's 
standard  strainer,  adjustable  from  both 
sides. 


98 


MODERN  DRUMMER 


Yamaha  has  also  announced  the 
introduction  of  four  new  drumstick 
models.  Featuring  a  full  radius  cut  on  the 
butt  end  of  the  stick,  all  models  are  made 
from  select  hickory.  Of  the  new  models, 
the  R3,  R4,  and  R5  models  have  rounded 
beads  to  improve  cymbal  articulation.  The 
fourth  model  is  the  77,  which  sports  an 
"acorn"-style  bead  on  a  longer  stick. 
Yamaha  Corp,  of  America,  6600 
Orangethorpe  Ave.,  Buena  Park,  CA 
90620. 

AC-CETERA 

FLEX-EZE 

Ac-cetera,  Inc.  has  introduced  Flex-eze 
into  its  Mic-eze  product  line.  Flex-eze  is 
composed  of  a  3"  or  5"  section  of  flexible 
pipe,  with  clamps  on  either  end — one  for 
holding  a  mic',  the  other  attaching  to 
drums,  stands,  or  other  hardware.  Ac- 
cetera,  P.O.  Box  8070,  Pittsburgh,  PA 
15216,1-800-537-3491. 

NEW  HQ 

SOUNDOFF  DISCS 

HQ  Percussion  Products  has  added  to 
their  line  of  SdurCf  Silencing  Discs.  In 
addition  to  being  available  in  all  drum 
sizes  from  6"  to  18",  there  are  now 
SoundOffs  for  hi-hats  and  ride  and  crash 
cymbals.  The  model  for  hi-hats  consists  of 
two  pieces  and  works  on  cymbals  from 
13"  to  15".  The  ride/crash  model  is  one 
piece  and  works  on  cymbals  from  16"  to 
22".  According  to  the  manufacturers,  like 
the  original  SoundOffs,  these  new  cymbal 
models  significantly  reduce  volume,  have 
excellent  stick  response,  and  are  reasona¬ 
bly  priced.  HQ  Percussion  Products,  P.O. 
Box  430065,  St.  Louis,  MO  63143,  (314) 
647-9009. 

CARMINE  APPICE 
POWER  ROCK 
DRUM  SYSTEM 

Warner  Bros.  Publications  recently 
announced  distribution  of  the  Carmine 
Appice  Power  Rock  Drum  System. 
Containing  five  audio  tapes  and  instruc¬ 
tion  booklets,  this  step-by-step  system  is 
for  all  levels  of  experience,  from  beginners 
to  advanced.  Each  lesson  is  taught  on 
cassette  and  then  explained  in  a  matching 
instruction  booklet,  which  is  filled  with 
heavy  rock  beats,  patterns,  and  exercises. 
The  System  is  based  on  Appice's  book 
Realistic  Rock. 

Warner  Bros.  Publications  also  distrib¬ 
utes  Rudiments  To  Rock,  which  teaches 
the  novice  percussionist  basic  fundamen¬ 


tals,  as  well  as  the  difficult  beats  of  today's 
rock  'n'  roll.  Appice's  Updated  Realistic 
Rock  Method  shows  the  fundamentals  of 
rock  drumming  and  includes  two  records 
and  a  full-color  poster.  Realistic  Double 
Feet  contains  solos  and  studies  designed 
to  coordinate  the  feet.  Realistic  Reggae 
Rock  focuses  on  reggae  fundamentals  and 
contains  photos,  a  discography,  a  sound- 
sheet  recording,  and  an  equipment  list. 
Warner  Bros.  Publications,  265  Secaucus 
Road,  Secaucus,  NJ  07094,  (201)  348- 
0700. 


NEW  TAPE 
FROM  VIDEO 
CONSERVATORY 

Video  Conservatory  has  released  Flow  To 
Play  Drums  Vol.  2,  an  instructional  video 
for  beginning  to  advanced  players.  The 
approximately  60-minute  video  demon¬ 
strates  40  drum  rudiments  and  applies 
them  to  the  drumset,  and  also  includes  a 
rudiment  sheet.  Host  Dick  Petrie  is  an 
instructor  and  a  professional  player  and 
clinician  in  Los  Angeles.  He  also  hosts  a 


On  this  great  video.  Peter  explains  and  demonstrates  what  he  feels  are  the  most 
important  areas  for  a  drummer  to  focus  on. 

He  covers  his  philosophy  of  the  jazz  ride  pattern,  ride  cymbal  technique,  indepen¬ 
dence,  coordination  and  improvisation,  illustrating  these  points  in  performance  with 
a  fantastic  trio  including  John  Abercrombie  and  Marc  Johnson,  (Booklet  Included). 

\  jjr*. 

85  minutes  of  instruction, 
demonstration,  and 
performance! 

id'aMD 

Please  send  me:  EVERYTHING  IS  TIMEKEEPING  $49.95  85  min.  Booklet  included 

Q  uue  ri  Dpfa  Add  $4,00  per  order  shipping  (S6.00  per  tape  outside  the  US.)  NY  State  residents,  add 

a  c  a  appropriate  sates  tax.  Please  allow  2-3  weeks  far  delivery.  PAL  available,  add  S6.00  per  tape. 

Make  check  payable  to:  DCI  MUSIC  VIDEO  541  Ave.  of  the  Americas  *  NX  N  Y  10011 

Call  1-800-342-4500  Visa/Mastercard  orders  (in  N.Y.  State,  212-691-1884) 

Name. _ _ _ Add  ress _ _ _ _ _ 


Phone. 


Mastercard/Visa  Card  # 


Signature _ _____ _ _ _ 

In  Europe:  Music  Mail  Ltd.,  142  Cromwell  Rd.,  London  SW7  4EF  Engfand  •  Tel.  (01)  857-6309 
Canadian  Orders  must  be  paid  by  International  Money  Order,  or  check  drawn  on  a  US.  bank. 


EVERYTHING  IS  TIMEKEEPING 


Id) 

■ _ IL~ 

"p| 

~2  ’ 

D) 

\ 

k\ 

\\ 

Er 

_5  1 

. 

& 

AU 

\N 

VJ 

MODERN  DRUMMER 


99 


ROLAND  PADS 
MIDI  RHYTHM 
CONTROLLER 


Mini 


ho  put! more  into  their  rjnusic  than 


ig's  Rocker  Seri' 


immers 


Into  their 


con  bui  d  a  kit  that  fits  your  music 


kit  that's  pure  Ludwig— with  the  sound  and 


And,  however  you  build 

craftsmanship  that  have  made  Ludwig  the  most  f< 


drums 


imous  name  on 


locker.  They  sound  expensive 


See  your  Ludwig  de 


A  SELMEft  COMPANY 

RO.  Box  310  •  Elkhan.  IN  46515 


Pictured: 
Model  LI 
in  silver  s 


jii  rn 


m3 

z _  - 1 

two  different  sizes  that  are  positioned  for 
easy  playing.  Each  pad  can  be  assigned 
individual  MIDI  note  numbers,  allowing 
users  to  customize  the  unit's  setup  to  meet 
their  preferences.  Fourteen  preset  rhythm 
patterns  in  a  variety  of  different  styles,  in 
addition  to  individual  introductions,  fill- 
ins,  and  variation  patterns  for  each 
rhythm,  enable  the  PAD-5  to  operate  as  a 
rhythm  machine  as  well.  The  Preset 
Assign  feature  automatically  assigns 
various  instruments  to  different  pads  for 
each  preset  rhythm  pattern.  The  unit  can 
be  held  or  placed  in  a  lap-top  position 
and  is  battery-operated.  According  to 
Roland,  the  PAD-5  is  ideal  for  educators 
who  want  to  introduce  non-musicians  to 
electronic  instruments  or  augment  their 


percussion  instruction.  RolandCorp  US, 
7200  Dominion  Circle,  Los  Angeles,  CA 
90040,  (213)685-5141. 

BRUEL  &  KJAER 
4012  CARDIOID 
MIC 

Bruel  &  Kjaer  has  recently  introduced  a 
new  addition  to  its  4000  series  of  micro¬ 
phones,  the  4012  cardioid  mic'.  The  4012 
professional  microphone  is  a  polarized 
condenser  mic'  with  a  first-order  cardioid 
directional  pattern,  and  is  powered  from 
Bruel  &  Kjaer's  2872  dual-channel  power 


supply.  The  281 2  supplies  103  volts  to  the 
preamplifier  of  the  4012,  which  enables 
the  microphone  to  handle  up  to  168  dB 
SPL  before  slipping  occurs  (a  10  dB 
improvement  on  the  figure  for  Bruel  & 
Kjaer's  4011). 

The  4012  is  finished  in  anodized  matt 
black,  and  is  delivered  with  a  windscreen 
of  measurement-microphone  quality  and 
what  the  makers  call  a  radically  different 
microphone  clip  designed  with  both 
acoustic  and  ergonomic  considerations  in 
mind.  Bruel  &  Kjaer  Instruments,  Inc., 

185  Forest  St,  Marlborough,  MA.  01752, 
tel.:  (508)  485-7000,  FAX:  (508)  485- 
0519. 


Please  rush  me  by  .  Make  check  or  money  order  payable  Jo 

mOSlD  IS:  □  $49.95  for  video  FR££  SHIPPING 

□  $14.95  for  workbook  ^  8033  Sunset  BM ..Suite  110 

ftitSffflD  $59.95  for  video  and  workbook  ™0N£Y  Hollywood,  CA  90046 

Outside  U.S.  add  $3,00  per  item  •  CA  &  IX  residents  add  sales  lax.  Please  allow  2-4  weeks  far  delivery.  Dealer  inquiries  Invited 


None  (pltfose  priniU 


A  NEW  GENERATION  INSTRUCTIONAL  VIDEO  BY 

BOBBY  ROCK 


as  Bobby  takes  you  through  his  unique  'melting  pal' 
melhod  of  fusing  and 

concepts  in  on  innovative  approach  to 
and 

Packed  with  blazing  solos  and  detailed 
demonstrations,  M  ETALMO  RPH  OS  IS  includes: 
Powerhouse  Rock  Techniques 
Syncopal  ran 

Double  Boss  Groove,  Fill,  and  Solo  Applications 
Linear  Ideas 

Blinding  Crossover  Patterns 
Four-Way  Independence  Concepts 
{including  JfIhe  Monster") 

Extensive  Soloing  Studies 

Pius  in-depth  interview  footage  and  much r,  much 
morel 

This  presentation  is  a  must  for  all  drummers  ready  to 
unleash  their  potential. 


The  METAMORPHOSES  Workbook:  60+  poges 
containing  all  patterns  demonstrated  in  the  video,  plus 
plenty  of  supplementary  exercises  of  each  concept. 


OVER  80  MINUTES! 


WE  STOCK  ALL  STYLES  AND  MOST  COLORS 
OVER  1000  NAME  BRANDS: 


•  PEARL • TAMA 

•  PREMIER  •  GRETSCH 
•  SONOR  •  ELECTRO 

VOICE  *  ZILDJIAN  ♦  SABIAN 

•  PAISTE  •  D.W.  *  REMO 

•  R.I.M.S.  •  L.P.  •  PROMARK 
•REGAL  TIP ‘VIC  FIRTH 
• SHURE • AKG • TOA 


WHY  PAY  LOCAL  HIGH  PRICES? 

LA's  LARGEST  SELECTION  OF 
DRUMS  •  GUITARS  •  KEYBOARDS  •  PRO  AUDIO 


"WE  BEAT  ALL  DEALS” 

•CALL  US  WITH  YOUR  BEST  DEAL  AND  WE  LL  BEAT  IT 


|  CUSTOM  BUILT  DRUMS 
"Reshell  That  Old  Set." 

Need  24  X  24  BassDrums? 
Highest  Quality  Birch  or 
|  Maple  Shells  Almost  Any  Size 
and  Plys  Imaginable. “Major 
Finish  Breakthrough." 
Refinish  your  Drums  With 
Lacquer  Veneer  Wood!  “It 
Sounds  Like  Wood  and 
Doesn't  Choke  Your  Drums." 


•Save  on  local  Taxes 
‘Overnight  Delivery  Available 
*We’ll  Ship  Anywhere 

*We  Double  All  Manufacturers  Warranty’s 

'Save  Additional  2%  with  Cash 
•All  Items  Brand  New 


For  The  Electronic  Drummer 

Complete  MIDI,  Synth, 
and  Rack  Center.  Mixers, 
Speakers,  Power  Amps, 
Effects,  and  More! 


All  Cymbals  Hand  Picked  For 
Excellent  Tone  And  Quality. 


Hard  To  Find  Parts 


Unbeatable  Box  Stick  Prices! 


FREE  MANUFACTURERS  CATALOG  just  send  $2.00  shipping  &  handling 
FAX 

(8i  8)  893-4331  por  Orders  Call 


For  Product  Specialist 
(818)  893-1511 


(818)  891-0402 


Open  7  Days 
Mon-Sat  1 1  -8 
Sun  11-5 


9034  Woodley  Ave.,  Sepulveda,  California  91343 


AOJPAD 


•  Single  and  double  trigger 
snare,  tom,  and  base  drum, 
ELECTRACOUST1C™  pads. 


•  Works  with  any  sound  source. 

•  Custom  colors. 

•  Made  in  the  U.S.A. 


HART  SYSTEMS  INC.  10906  Wingate  Dr.  Tampa,  FL  33624 

(813)  960-2095  Fax :  (813)  960-3661  Dealer  |nquirjes 


Top  quality  single  drums  or  complete  kits  made  with  only 
the  finest  shells  and  hardware.  "Kill  on  Command”  drums- 
you’ll  appreciate  the  quality  and  be  amazed  at  the  price. 
Standard  and  custom  finishes  available. 

Do  it  yourselfers  can  purchase  recovering  material,  shells, 
etc.  and  raise  your  own  drums  from  the  dead. 

Send  $3,00  today  for  our  complete  color  catalog/price  list. 


Resurrection 

■  OM5B 


Resurrection  Drums,  Inc.,  2920  5.W*  30th  Avenue,  Hallandale,  FL  33009 

Call  (305)  945-8096  or  457-9020 


R£A  DERS '  FL  A  TFORM  continued  from  6 

the  good  work! 

John  Perry  Penn 
Houma  LA 


RESPONSE  FROM  FRANK 

I  am  writing  in  response  to  Randy  Bradley's 
letter  in  the  October  Readers'  Platform. 
Maybe  I  can  offer  some  observations  from 
someone  who  has  "been  there." 

First  of  all,  Randy,  it  is  obvious  that  your 
frustrations  have  been  building  up  for  quite 
some  time.  Are  the  other  musicians  in  your 
band  aware  that  there  is  a  problem?  Have 
you  tried  approaching  them  in  a  mature 
and  reasonable  manner?  They  are  people, 
too.  If  they  care  about  you,  your  feelings, 
and  your  input,  they'll  respond.  Remember 
the  old  saying:  "If  you  are  not  part  of  the 
solution,  you're  part  of  the  problem." 

Secondly,  have  you  tried  to  "punch 
it.. .kick  it.. .speed  up. ..lay  back.. .etc."  when 
they  asked  you  to?  Sometimes  other  play¬ 
ers  have  good  ideas,  but  as  non-drummers 
they  have  trouble  communicating  those 
ideas  in  drumming  terms.  Think  about  it.  If 
their  suggestions  seem  endless,  maybe  it's 
because  they're  uncomfortable  with  the  feel 
but  can't  explain  why.  Go  back  to  the  rec¬ 
ords  and  check  the  feel  and  the  sound.  Go 
back  into  the  practice  room  and  check  your 
time. 

While  I'm  sure  you'll  find  most  drum¬ 
mers  to  be  sympathetic,  you  are  essentially 
spitting  into  the  wind  when  you  air  your 
complaints  in  Modern  Drummer.  Maybe 
your  comments  would  have  a  better  effect 
on  the  pages  of  Guitar  Player,  Keyboard,  or 
Musician,  since  it  is  with  musicians  other 
than  drummers  that  you  have  those  com¬ 
plaints. 

All  in  all,  while  you  must  accept  the 
limitations  of  a  "Holiday  Inn-type"  gig,  I 
can  say  from  experience  that  there  is  no 
need  to  bore  yourself  cranking  out  record 
copies.  If  you  are  bored,  you  will  look  and 
sound  bored.  Sincerity  is  the  key.  People 
will  respond  to  a  sincere  attempt  to  reach 
them — whether  they  are  the  other  mem¬ 
bers  of  your  band  or  the  members  of  your 
audience.  Good  luck. 

Frank  Dickinson 
Stony  Point  NY 


ddrum 

THE  WORLD  LEADER 
IN  DIGITAL  SAMPLING 
25  Linde  man  Drive 
Trumbull,  CT  06611 

(203)  374-0020 


What  does  a 
Wandoo? 

BRADY  DRUMS 


104 


MODERN  DRUMMER 


KEEP  UP  WITH  THE  TIMES! 


The  Modem  Drummer 
Library  presents: 


i - - -n 

|  ONLY  | 

I  $9. 95  each  plus  $2. 50  shipping/handling 

I  Please  send  me _ copies  of 

|  THE  ELECTRONIC  DRUMMER  j 

I  EH  Payment  enclosed 

I  Name _ | 

!  Address  _ . 

I  City _ I 

|  State _ Zip _ | 

Make  checks  payable  and  mail  to: 

Hal  Leonard  Publications 
P.O.  Box  13819 
Milwaukee,  Wl  53213 

Do  not  send  cash  U  S.  Funds  onEy 
Please  allow  6  to  8  weeks  for  delivery.  MOD-i  5  * 


ELECTRONIC  DRUMMER 


BY  NORMAN  WEINBERG 


Basic:  sound  reinforcement  of 
acoustic  drums  to  complete 
electronic/Mini  setup*  for 
today's  drummer 


Mooenn 

OH  U 111  Ill  f?R  Publications,  Inc. 


ELECTRONIC 

DRUMMER 


BY  NORMAN  WEINBERG 

All  of  the  information  today's 
drummer  needs  to  know  about: 

>•  ACOUSTIC  AND  ELECTRONIC  SOUND 
^  DRUM  MACHINES 
^  MIDI 
»  SAMPLING 
^  TRIGGERING 
»■  ELECTRONIC  DRUMKITS 
^  COMPUTERS 
^  SOUND  REINFORCEMENT 
^  COMPLETE  ELECTRONIC  SETUPS 

From  simple ,  basic  uses  of  electronics 
to  complex,  total  electronic  setups, 

THE  ELECTRONIC  DRUMMER  will  tell  you 

what  you  need  to  know — in  straight¬ 
forward,  "user-friendly"  language. 


1 

D  1 

R  U  M  1 

L  1 

1  N  1 

Send  quick,  proven  tips  that  have  saved  you  time,  money,  or  effort  to  Drumline,  do  Modem  Drummer,  870  Pompton  Avenue,  Cedar  Grove,  NJ 
07009.  Items  can  range  from  equipment  maintenance,  repair,  or  design  tips  to  valid  practice  and  playing  ideas.  Please  keep  your  tip  to  150  words 
or  less,  and  be  sure  to  include  your  name  and  address.  We  will  pay  $15.00  for  every  tip  we  publish. 


MICROPHONE  HOLDERS 

I'd  been  experimenting  with  miking  my  set, 
and  had  a  problem:  Though  I  had  several 
cymbal  stands,  I  had  no  mic'  stands.  My 
solution  was  to  take  a  piece  of  5/8"  pipe 
(from  one  old  mic'  stand)  and  cut  it  into  1" 
sections.  I  soldered  a  wing  nut  onto  the 
bottom  of  each  section  and  threaded  the 
top  of  each  section  to  fit  my  mic'  holders.  I 
then  installed  these  "adaptors"  on  my  extra 
cymbal  stands  to  create  temporary  mic' 
stands.  Though  they  are  somewhat  un¬ 
sightly,  they  are  cheap  and  effective,  and 
ought  to  last  long  enough  for  me  to  replace 
them  with  the  "real  thing." 

Derek  Sharp 

Pittsburg  KS 


MOUNTING  SMALL  CYMBALS 

I'd  like  to  pass  along  an  idea  I  had  for 
adding  small  cymbals  to  my  kit.  I  wanted 
to  add  a  small  Ice  Bell,  but  did  not  want  to 
use  a  separate  stand  for  it.  I  first  mounted 
the  bell  on  a  stand  atop  another  cymbal. 
This  provided  some  interesting  tonal  vari¬ 
ations.  But  then  the  light  came  on!  I  used  a 
spare  hi-hat  clutch  to  mount  the  Ice  Bell  on 
the  hi-hat  rod  over  my  primary  hi-hat  cym¬ 
bals.  I  compensated  for  the  added  weight 
by  adjusting  the  spring  tension  on  the  hi- 
hat.  Using  this  mounting  method  places  an 
alternate  sound  source  in  close  proximity 
to  my  hi-hat  stick(s). 

Steven  Klinck 
Madison  TN 


REPAIRING  PITTED  HEADS 

As  we  all  know,  it's  next  to  impossible  to 
get  a  pure  tone  from  a  severely  dented 
head.  Years  ago  I  discovered  a  method  for 
"repairing"  pits  and  dents  in  heads  without 
having  to  remove  them  from  the  drum. 
Granted,  I've  found  this  repair  method  to 
be  of  limited  use  on  two-ply  heads  (Evans 
Hydraulic,  Remo  Pinstripe,  etc.),  but  it 
greatly  extends  the  life  of  single-ply  Am- 


DRUMMERS!  DRUM  RECOVERING  KITS 
AVAILABLE.  Over  25  choices  of  Pearls, 
Sparkles,  Satin  Flames  and  Woodgrains 
Send  $1.00  for  full  information  and  samples 
(refundable  on  first  order).  PRECISION 
DRUM  COMPANY,  Dept.  C,  151  Califor¬ 
nia  Road;  Yorktown  Heights,  N.Y,  10598 


Thunder 

from 

Down  Under 


bassador-type  heads.  All  you  need  is  a  dis¬ 
posable  butane  lighter  (Bic,  Cricket,  etc.). 
Other  sources  of  flame  will  work,  but  I've 
found  that  disposable  lighters  work  best. 
Adjust  your  lighter  to  a  medium-low  flame, 
and  then  wave  it  from  side  to  side  on  the 
drumhead  where  the  dent  is  located.  Make 
sure  that  only  the  heat  from  the  flame 
touches  the  head!  The  idea  is  to  heat  the 
Mylar,  which  returns  to  its  original  shape. 
(Apparently,  it's  a  plastic  with  a  "memory.") 
Note:  Remember  to  wave  the  lighter!  If  the 
flame  is  left  stationary,  your  head  will 
bubble,  melt,  and  burn  (in  that  order)! 

Elliot  Pietri 
Yauco,  Puerto  Rico 


PREVENTING  BASS  DRUM  CREEP 

A  serious  and  annoying  bass  drum  prob¬ 
lem  can  be  remedied  for  less  money  than  it 
costs  to  buy  a  pair  of  brushes.  The  problem 
is  bass  drum  creep;  you  know  you  have  it 
when  your  drum  has  worked  its  way  four 
feet  in  front  of  the  singer!  The  remedy  is: 
cello  stops.  These  are  light  (but  very  dense) 
rubber  doughnut-shaped  disks  meant  to 
support  cellos.  Place  one  under  each  spur 
and  your  bass  drum  won't  budge  on  waxed 
floors  or  linoleum,  and  you  won't  tear  car¬ 
peting  (making  you  very  popular  with  em¬ 
ployers).  These  3  1/2"  wonders  have  the  trade 
name  of  Rock  Stops  and  are  available  in 
most  full-line  music  stores  at  a  cost  of  $7.50 
or  so  each.  For  thicker  spurs,  you  might  be 
better  advised  to  purchase  the  bass  viol 
model  with  a  larger  holding  cup.  I  find  that 
a  pair  lasts  me  about  five  years.  Throw 
away  your  chains,  bricks,  anchors,  and 
carpets;  these  work! 

Cary  Nasatir 
Castro  Valley  CA 


EMERGENCY  DRUMHEAD  CHANGE 

For  those  of  you  who  do  not  have  a  second 
snare  drum  on  your  gig,  or  who  cannot 
afford  the  time  to  replace  a  broken  snare 
head  in  the  middle  of  a  set,  purchase  a 
Remo  1 5"  PTS  Ambassador  Bright  head.  If 
your  regular  snare  batter  head  breaks,  just 
rip  out  the  remaining  plastic  and  slap  the 
15"  PTS  head  over  the  still-attached  14" 
snare  drum  rim.  Secure  it  with  a  few  pieces 
of  gaffer's  (duct)  tape,  and  you're  up  and 
playing  in  60  seconds! 

George  Lawrence 
Jackson  MS 


HI-HAT  WEIGHT 

I  recently  bought  a  twin  bass  drum  pedal.  I 
found  it  a  problem  to  play  double  bass 


with  a  tight  hi-hat.  I  know  I  could  have 
bought  a  drop-lock  clutch,  but  I'm  only  15, 
and  money  is  tight.  So  I  went  down  in  the 
basement  and  dug  up  a  piece  of  metal 
about  the  size  of  a  large  felt  cymbal  washer. 

I  painted  it  chrome  so  it  would  look  good, 
and  put  it  on  top  of  the  cymbal  washer  of 
the  top  hi-hat.  It  added  some  weight,  so 
that  when  I  release  the  top  cymbal  it  sits 
more  heavily  on  the  bottom  one,  giving  me 
a  tighter  closed  hi-hat  sound.  I  was  lucky 
to  find  this  particular  piece  of  metal,  but  a 
collar  from  a  barbell  works  the  same. 

Marc  Giordano 
Chester  NY 


ELIMINATING  SPEED  KING  SQUEAKS 

I've  received  many  compliments  regarding 
the  action  and — believe  it  or  not — lack  of 
squeaks  from  my  Speed  King  pedals.  I'd 
like  to  pass  on  what  works  for  me,  and  will 
work  for  anyone  else  on  any  Speed  King. 
At  either  side  of  the  axle  where  it  meets  the 
yoke,  spray  a  little  WD40 — just  enough  to 
get  the  spot  thoroughly  drenched.  Next,  at 
the  same  points,  add  one  or  two  drops  of 
Three-In-One  oil.  This  will  keep  the  bear¬ 
ings  well-lubricated.  Next,  at  the  point 
where  the  footplate  connects  to  the  pedal 
(which  is  where  I  think  the  real  problem 
lies),  apply  a  generous  amount  of  Vaseline 
or  other  petroleum  jelly.  With  a  Speed  King, 
when  pushing  the  pedal  you  are  actually 
grinding  metal  against  metal  at  this  linkage 
point.  But  this  can  work  in  your  favor  when 
you  use  the  Vaseline,  because  it's  also  being 
rubbed  into  the  metal  at  the  same  time. 
After  just  a  couple  of  applications  your 
pedal  will  be  squeakless!  The  Vaseline  pro¬ 
tects  the  metal,  lubricates  the  points  of 
stress,  and  kills  the  squeak. 

Butch  Melton 
Indianapolis  IN 


No/e:  The  tips  presented  in  Drumline  are 
suggestions  based  on  the  personal  experi¬ 
ence  of  individual  drummers,  and  are  not 
necessarily  endorsed  or  recommended  by 
Modern  Drummer  Magazine.  Modern 
Drummer  cannot  guarantee  that  any  prob- 
lem  will  be  solved  by  any  Drumline  sug¬ 
gestion,  and  cannot  be  responsible  for  any 
damage  to  equipment  or  personal  injury 
resulting  from  the  utilization  of  any  such 
suggestion.  Readers  are  encouraged  to 
consider  each  suggestion  carefully  before 
attempting  to  utilize  any  Drumline  tip. 


BRADY  DRUMS 


MODERN  DRUMMER 


1  r  fwP rla 

0 

h  LU  D 

DRUM  MARKET 


tf  you've  goi  something  to  sell,  instructions  to  offer  or  are  looking  for  a  hard-ro-find  item,  advertise  in  DRUM  MARKET  and 
reach  over  a  quarter  million  drummers  worldwide  for  only  Si. 00  per  word  pfus  $4,00  for  an  address.  Minimum  charge 
SI 0.00.  Underline  words  to  appear  in  BOLD  type  and  add  $,50  for  each  bold  word,  (lead tines  for  ads:  the  20th  of  the 
month  two  months  proceeding  on -sale  date.  Ads  received  after  the  deadline  will  be  held  for  the  next  issue  unless  otherwise 
specified.  All  ads  must  be  paid  in  full  in  advance.  Mail  ads  to:  MD  c/o  Drum  Market.  870  Pompton  Ave.P  Cedar  Grove.  NJ 


ozooy. 


FOR  SALE 

ALL  REMO,  LLiDWBfi  &  EVANS  Drumheads  al  j  huge 
saving!!  All  £ILD|IAN  unclutfing  K-B4irliB«l5  and  Hall- 
ri'.ims.  .s  iV'.ISf  I;  tynlbfds  -al  hivv^vl  ;>ri£  fv!  Hufir  i  iTum- 
xlick  uvmg>  uim  jII  stick::  Pro-Mark.  Vk  Fi  rlh,  Silver 
Fog  Max*  Sttux  Rcj^j  I  Tiy,  Aqwjriin  A  Darahnt,  ant 
■■vrj  roll  "cm!!!  Anwing  *nw  pcicey  on  all  dniRfis  &  uii_- 
c.H&oi'hs.  Bizarre  O-jitiJi.  2b?'/  OcFtiie  Blvd..  Reno. 
Nevada  mW2  -  7U-JI  3II-UKM  Plus,  No  5«ln  Tba  rj« 
Oul  eA  Stale  S.tk-N1 


ELECTRONIC  DRUM  &A1  r  SimrawF,  Tima 

l-[imM!  "M.irl  kiU  in  to.»i  irwl  tan  Si  lt1’  '  £>  W,  l  ama 
i  Yamaha  hordwj^e  a:  amazing  Iota  Fiv-jc  ! ! !  Bi/arra 
Guitar  2*77  Oddi*  AM,  Reno.  Nevada  *951?  L7Q2S 
33MD01 


DRUM  MACHINE  SUPER  SALE  All  iDDO-1  & 
DDD-5  dt  r-cs scries!  &  RoUrti  (rndudinK  Tfc-707,  S?-3, 
TH-.5Q5  A.  I  k  fhZfi:.  All  r;  jKl“\  of  drum  m  Jr.Fimm  jn-:l  .ill 
digital  feverbs  dnu  pieceac**  un  s-ak  .i:  J  in  s4uc.k! 
AltO  Rnk'vd  OctApa.d  tl  S3  If  XI I  n  ^Inrl:  jm>i  -n 
«r(sjhrtjy!l11  At  iTnb^iifvaMr  Discounted  Woftl  Bizarre 
•LuiS-ir.  2b?  V  L  tail  i-  tfivd..  Kppn’i  Nt-vada  HlJdI2  1,71.121 
13  t— 1 00 1 


p  -  ****  -  N  r  ACI  DKUMS1  ■  ■ ,MH  “  ■ 

WE  MAVT  THF  IFGENnARY  SOUND  YOU  WANT. 

I  Isdijx1  ■■t  lf!  ^Kih  Ludwig,  SlinnH^LjjIrj!  \  murr!  Money 
n.ifk  guarantee  y.iwav  available!  EKlt  CAIALOGl 
Vinrjfle  Drum  Censer.  R/>i.te  l  Go*  9TB,  r>Ktf 

L. lwrlV-  itln,  I A  S2“rfi7  i I  5.1  h'.U  J-L-T  E  or  Cdl-  Dir.  At*. 
N»r  TnU  Fr-w  p 

.Vlicrci  Tdirniir  Wrj?-nrh  Drum  Tiirer  Tunr-  iVwIrr,  ,3 cry 
r.iti-ly  urllhflM  having  \rf  lifMr  Hri,i  ti  A  i.|Lj.sliry  £  hmmHd 
\w\  irsol  G-uarani&td.  Send  £1  2.LH]  10  KITWlT  SSP0 
S  E  Adh,  Portland,  QRS72SS 

EAMfS  HanD-CRaFFEO  North  American  Blrcti  Drum 
Shellc.  Sr-lcci  mo«i  r  npftuw.  NaiupaPtnne  mspmpj 
lnne  unrirw^hed  or  finished  %hf^k.  f>esign  p^ur  own 
in^lNjf«?ri(  n-s  only  tbv  di^rer^infl  ptav^r  car.  Fnr  fie^ 
brochure  wrictv  EamPf  Poring,  2JS  1-ClI.tilI  |i  m  Stret'L 
SJHHU.V  uni?  1  J  I  I  I  404 

FACTORY  DiRECt  PPICFS!  CuitonTlmi.  h^nd-giade 

M. iplf  lJ.v(En«.  AnwT.L.iX  finrs'i  iiu.i  I- iv  ^rknijnsbip. 

.r'd  a  widi*  dwife  firiisilws  ALL  AMEHE- 
CAN  MADE.  COR  DER  DRUM  COMPANY,  W22  1 2rh 
Ayi'.?u-  s  w..  MiinlsvlEk.  AL  TS^li.  Phoftr  (7D51  ■!  34- 
*406 

L IN N  MUUUr  n-U«UM  Br-AMiNU  I  -LAN \ Li  V.IMk. 
BEST  OFFER  113i  G?5-fl53S 

F  KEL!  UKUYI  4. HARTS,  CATALOG  A  SAMPLE!  Al?M .- 
lur^-lv  I  bwr '  D  PLi.%1  0 1A1STS  I NTE R NATIONAL .  Bax 
14T-F01  Viitucl  IWS4-dt47. 


KOCiERS-fir5t.EKS.  DRUMS,  PARTS,  ACCESSORIES. 
UbVLBlLOC,  SWIVO^MATlC,  K-3S0  l  u^js.  Runs, 

f-rod-i.  Cymbfll  ^ands.  Pedak  Hi-Hai  RoHert 

{In.ii.in^l  L 1  :>ji  1  r  lijiids.  AdkJ  nn  Dfijm>.  C  LH-npJrtc  kjK. 
Wini  .md  Dual  T^n  HisklDrs.  Uyn^ijnir.  s#kir&=.  and 
frames.  Drum  Shirks.  All  Sires.  Rogers  B\ki 

■F.  Slid  k  Tr^ys.  |S^im  [Drum  I T c x j |_i v ,  Drum  Tlirnnt*S,. 

Wl'  ftoughr  All  Fhe  Bcgjjers  Drmri  Iiiwuiory  f  rum  Fender 
Music  .tl  IrwEfurntmlR.  In  Stock  0  i»!v  MapFe  SHl'P-  and 
f'ovu ring  W-M;  Ij^i-yJ  Ludwig,  Shri^rLuil  GrtlanCh, 
Diurn^,  Piiq^.  Cill'  lor  rHoM1  h.irrj  !jr>  i|nd  pan  v 
nnd  iiijLi^r-nrbRs  Al  Drew's  Music.  Fraol  street. 

Yriwny.y tkrl  Wl  O?095.  Trl  -AQI 1  7i,^-  1SS2 

IWKi  LUDWIG  XI 15.  While  Pearl,  P^vchedelii:  R^d. 
HI  iv  fV-irl.  I’iirdk  Ch^mpiiKn*  5fradl;k>.  (Sl^l  7£.  3-3  kLO 


DISCOVIR  THE  MISSING  LING  bt^^-n  >-diur  dhiim 
and  .1  rx'h.  saund.  How  wik.IiJ  ^  ilj  Jiku  120-  1J1F- 
ftfiE.Nt  SNARE  SOUNDS  wtlh  your  cunent  snar el 
ACOUSTK  y:s.|uliyr\i  I-m  f*inh.ince  rhe-  itjurni  ni  y^iyr 
dim  ■  r  Send  S-L9S  |jlu  ,  PS  1 1  UNC  PEKQhSK  )N  SYS 
TEAiS  P.O-  Bux  I0CY9A.  MinwjfKs^iH.  MN  53416 

WHERE  DID  YW GET  THAT  SHIRT.  Humorous  Mdki- 
eok'ivd  C^rlyon  Adult  Llrummer*.  We  CuaranlK? 
Y^j'll  Lu*r  IE.  ifnrf  &  Si7f  h.  I HLIKL3V  GLRDY 

PRODUCFOVS  Buk  V4bin,  Dl=uI  D-ll.Fl  Uudet 
dale.  Ft  JlJO-7, 

OLR  NAME  SAYMT  ALL 
Fi?rr  INFORMATION  CALL 
(7i  n  Horift 

SONOR  SAkl^  WDdd's  bc&t  drums  at  unbebcvabSc 
uriec&l!  Liii-ised  uuiintitich-  k-ill  1  h-  write  J'ni1  LREt  Flyer 
WaddWP*.  Drum&.  P.O.  tin*  I  utf  LDeehhuig.  I*A  T^fe5b. 
Hl  2l  U4jH*e& 

DRLJM^  ,£Tt.  WJLL  MAK.H  ANY  ADVTRlIJstD  lJRJ[;i 
ANitS^ilF^  IO  YOU  FREE  CALL  LUK  EVERYTHING 
h  roAH  :>inc  :  i  >^1  jm  fqi  .1  p.mf  nt  17 1 7 1 144  1 1  rl  m 


Hlach  Beauiv—  ■  i  s  Radio  Kli^.  Cravid  m.W;  4>2-  '47S. 

TAMA  GRANS IAR  FLOOR  TO, MS,  ltT(l hM  &.  1AUY1B', 
L.UN  MilALLtC  GRAY.  EXCELLENI  CONDIIION, 
SJ50.(W>.  Krith  1  "I  I  Fi  9*4-?lf>S 

THE  MAS F E R  MUSICIANS  DRUM  SHOP— Wb  SPt- 
CIAI  I7E  IN  NEW,  USED  AND  VINIAOT  PfiUM5l 
SONOR  IfflJTU  ANNlVCM.SAItY  ■  "A  R(  JftK WT  >f  )G ! 
1 9WYS  UJD WIG  4  K  „  H .At .N  [  JYSIEK  PEARL,  Ml N  T 1 
LUDWIG  &  PC  ViST.Ai.mr  AMBER1  MANY  OTHER 
SETS,  SNARES,  SINGLE?  PARTS  AVAILABLE!  TOO 
MUl  lintLlSI!  Wi  RUY,  SHI  .  I  PAUL  SEW  NUBLi 
&  COOLEY,  TAMA,  PEA«I .  MONTI NER|P  50110  PER¬ 
CUSSION,  ZIiPJJANr  PAISTI,  SA RIANT  WF  SHIP 
WCJKIDWIDE!  L.ALL  EUR  Pklt.iS  ANU  AVAfLAHJE- 
ITV!  1 30 1 1  26  E-21  IS 


PIARL  4^11  MLk  Nm.ill  liirri  Ir  N-^uui.i  red.  C  jm-  |i  - 
eluded  i^earl  CX-31W  hi-hali,  an  IR-  Mtmlftfte  rnlt- 
cymbal  and  a  Slin^.'rland  "Magnjm'  cvnih.d  *4aod 
Al-wii  lh^  KujtC.jddv'  KJr  hBrcfwdfi-  Call  Rfib  (3013 
723XM59,  Nau^alucfcCF 


Rh^lihdii  Tech  Tftftilhiunrttf  I h.i-lrriuc -: m  L  friars.  HI, 11  L, 
While.  Red.  Bit#  Yellow.  MIDNIGHT  SUN  (CaOlvS 
IN  DARKl,  Nft^;  Ptak,  Gum,  $\fJdQ  k^ub 

S3. FID  si  lipping  and  hjmdhng,  i.N|  aoci  ul^ 

r^n.  |iD's -Music.  RO.  Box  021  Woodbetd^  VJ07iyi5 


LUDWH.J  BLACK  BEALlY  ih '/2% 1 4'l  fngraved  Super 
Spnsiriv-H  Srinre.  1 1 9793  S4 'in.ril  7ildji«1  0'  SfiUdn. 
new,  1  610-MS3 


CYMBALS!!  CYMBALS!!  7ildjianS  (PLATINUMS.  3filL- 
LIANTSi,  S^ljijn,^.  P,iibieT  JVjrL  All  r:  st«i  k,  Snri^i’sH.  ■ 
hrm  GuarifenlFed1!!  WhClfesak  Priu^'  l.,ill  flrwhJf  h>r 
FREE  fly^r.  Waddell^  Drum  Cfiniw,  PO  Bn-y  HKi. 
Leet'.ihurg,  Pa  lSBSis  (4i  21  i'wS-bUB3 


THX  ILFST  IN  AMERIGAN  DRUMS— DVY,  GRllStH. 
LUDWIG  NOBLE  fir  COOLEY.  LIEDV,  REMO,  PIUS 
SNARES  FRCJM  WJNtINF.kl.  AL50...1H  PA  1ST  I 
ZILDJIAN,  AND  SABlAN  AND.PRf  MiEIL  NEW,  USED. 
VFATaGE  SETS,  PARTS,  RECOVERING  C-RtAT  PROS 
ON  STICKS.  FlfADs,  AND  Ad  FSSOfirliS  EVERYDAY1 
CALL  SAM  CM  MIKE  AT  THE  DRUM  CL  NTE R  CJf  IN¬ 
DIANAPOLIS  CALL  OPERATOR  FOR  TOLL  FREE 
NUMBER 


FREE  VIDEOS!  Ge*  Drum  Yldra  FREE'  The  ETFST  infra- 
dueffiry  Qiser  arrywbere!  MSK  PrtKlud^nu  Df|H  MDl  ^ 
BIS  Greu'i*  RMw  Circle.  L^ln^!FK.■^^^^,  PA  '■  5hM7.  (?l5i 
7H>Nt:W5 

VINTAGE  DRUMS  SHIPf^P  WOfiLDWIDE,  OWN 
YOUR  DREAM  MIL  &l  '  h jii d  Lii  find-  ADD-ONS. 
RafJio  Kang,  Ludwig,  UrU^cb,  Ro^:r^.  Slingffland, 
C^mbaFs  and  mo'cH  Lerge^i  m-Ii.h  irf.m,  Qtfty  ph«ns. 
jv.1ll.1bh1,  B-^v  Sf'll,  Trade,  .  iprfw^v.  FULL  SATISFAC¬ 
TION  GUARANTEE.  We  ship  wrwldwidi ,  insured  FREE 
CATALOG.  Cvlvbrity  pri-ratv.  VI MAC. F  MUM  1?R£.>- 
KUL>  PO.  FT^.  l£i,  I  Pc^kiw^v  NY  11S1BHXI1& 
(516]  JVMHH.  Fd^  .bTF-;  J39-7™ 


VINTAGE  DRUMS  FREE  CATALOG  ]=,}(,)  763-  H61 

19JS  RAD tO  KING  Dtuneet.  Oigiral  Whim  Pearl. 
Alyp  ESI  R A  snares  and  s|  nji'i r's  '1 1 6|  7 til-  T  |  U  ^ 


STUDY  MATERIALS 

Pm'Hiw  Drum  Vidt’cn:  Pr^wiew  I  Jr  uni  Virlcv -s  hy  m.iil 
and  tsw  Liij;  ill  Sendfcii  -inE-u  Actfm  Video.  K.-'  Ken- 
woed  CrofF-inK.  Levinown.  PA  10(?55 

2tl  Pnpular  Kuthmerra  cassefte  package  w\\h  book  lei 
SlTOl  55.0DW;  SLW.  10117  An^n  -d,!  Trunqu.lj.  R  k'  V,. 
Ca  wit*. 

FREE!  DRUM  CHARTS.  CATALOG  &  SAMFJ  E!  Bth 

rkartt  E^er!  Hsinrlm'dt  Avarl.ib+’!  PlkIh  Fuunn 

t  I.lssi  al  J Sr  rnnre!  DRUM  E  HAklfi-  INTTRNAl  lONAL 
Box  247-LA0  Nanuet,  NY  1OTSM.247 

RICK'S  LICXS  J,  Adv.uh.H'd  lltertn*c|ion... 

By  Rick  Gcanlnn* 

Tktse  are  iwo  mriovaLive  rtew  books  iFiai  ipec  ial  izl=-  in 
p-kr.K.n^  0 i^j  .'mil  'ictle  jirsirpiri^  rhe  (IluhlsM 

Tin*  *an*t-  lancet/  ir^ed  hy  rodny'^  leading  drummer 
to  e<e^Le  hip  Ti  lit  ^rid  groovet’  CurntrHly  Lioun^,  ci^- 
dwsed  Fry  GafV  CYmITlW1,  Biviiim'ii^,  tarmlni-  A 
Vlnnie  Ajipiee,  ind  Chuck  Silverman,  Volumes  I  dnd 
li- 512.95  «.n  1i.  A.Imj  .iv.tiljHii-jn  Judin  conipariHun 
Sr;  Vokime  t|— VI:  2.95,  Send  check  of  nerney  orcte*  in 
L  :.S  fundno  Rick's  Licks  Enterpriser  5  f^-n  Fnn 
Dr  i^-3  '1  M-’hsi'.'-.suhii.'..  Qrd.sruj  Ca,:,..ui.i  L^N-ll1^ 


TO  BE  A  GRFA1  DRUMMER  yHjiJ  mhl  lir-.l  hel«ve  >hju 
an;  a  £ieal  drummer  OftUMNETtCS  give-,  you  corifi- 

efence  tn  CTClY  ■i^F"r^-l  wl  Your  dtumminK'  Timi“,  fttvtTO1, 

ri  Ms  soloing  and  croallviiy  Through  cyFrfjfnefici,  yuu 

gain  bfiket  n  vcH^seH  igKc^sarv  1o  maki;  >1 10  lh« 
li'jpi  Orr.^  I^ipi-1  is  wUrllS  cijzt'iis  rJl  Ii'sm  ins  JU-tLiV  Mi  hIPv 

Back  [juarantee.  Sent!  $1  h.95  4  $,Mxi  p,sH  1o  5f LF 
IMAGE  DYNAMICS,  W/2  F?tul«  Dr.,  Apft».  CA 
erson  i  CA  R^sldetiK  .ir^i  &U%  sjIi-s  r.fc»^ 


YOU  HAVE  TILE  TALENT  BUT  CAN  YOU  CL7  I T  ON 
fiTAGCt  ecc^'nij  Mr  CCWl  Tli!«unli  SubhmllMf  ltd  in 
ing.  DiJnri  Let  Sn73  Stand  Bet^-een  You  &  PoivihFe 
Siatdom.  H U R DV  CURDY  PRODUCTION 5  Bo* 
24WJl.  De*1  DS-11.  Tt.  Uu*rcialtt.  M3314I7 

DRAMATICALLY  IMPROVED  DRUMMING  WITHIN 
WEEKS!!!  EFFORTLESSLY1  "Subliminal  I  lypnfnh  Lram- 
inf;  CjpscHc"'  LH-mL-rns  ill  slyle/k^v:  jjlJyi'^-!!  RESULT 5 
ABSOLUTELY  GUARANTEED  OR  MONEY  BACK?  Nn 
Sami  $10,0^  PdMpilld.  LL  197  B mad  k* 

KO.  221 ,  Dept.  ME]5,  VaHby  Fdlli,  kl  U2Jfb4 

ADVANCED  JTtCK  AEROBICS— For  (he  DRUMMER 
(.'I  ihr-  Wnrkuut  wur  WEAKER  HAS  I  ?  lie  ild  v  J 
11  ig  ADVANCED  FUNK  drunrset  paEleirr.  SOLOS. 
Send  ffiJjS  plus  Su.OQ  la r  stipplemcntarv  cassolH.-  bo: 
K|  N  Cf  3=X,  P.L 3  ET(  >K  ^  54.  .AC'](  JURA  HI  LI  S..  CA  ^  1 3(H  .  | 


108 


MODERN  DRUMMER 


A  flfivltimif  Auyr«uic  h  In  SliL-liin^  i-.  .1  iiiv.  m^lhunf  oi 
develop)  hr  bawl  lI^vJ  load  patlpfris  Uung  iVn-  7  I  v^it 
rhythms.  p^iFliirns  are  ihe n  cnealed  l>V  pUynn^,  1,  2„  .i 
.mil  4  rhythmi  mhui !ldn^ ilitI ■, ,  Uw  Ihi*  %X>ok  lor  Rudi' 
menial  Development,.  Drumset  Patterns,.  Swiich  Hil- 
cf^  OouWr  B*h  Iti-Jini^mf,  Hand  Tn  foal  Ltuvrdina- 
liim,  Thfff-W.iv  f  acirrliiurmn.  Lgur-Wai  CoOfdin.il'itNi. 

PPP  19. 2D.  I>;  Studia.  b-ii n  Brant*  Prfce.  Hub* 
Heighfc,  OH  A5U* 

-  DRlMM*  RS  AMP  INSTRUCTORS — 

AN  IN- PE  ?TH  tJG  HlN.  VtDEO  ANAIYZING  ANTlCl- 
I  'AT XU  AC T  LNT^,  £  R  TAT  Wi  F  it-\  iAT  USE .  NUMGE  R  E  D 
MfASURE  BREAKS.  Es£TtlSit]f  E3  ^Ql  O  W’OKfc.  ASP 
SPECIALISING  iN  ODD  TIME  SIGN ATURES,  NEXT  DAV 
SI  UPPING  GUARANTEED  SEsD  CHECK  OR  MO 
FORSJOIMUSS  !  SS-Hj  TO:  MICHAEL  ADAMS  BOX 
i  DEARBORN  Ml  iHSJifi 


Fi.SK  SESSIOM— Her-e'S  Mu-  mliSH..  hcrf  jt*  ihe 

i Furls...  YOU  rhi1  drummer.  PFih  Slurlm  Session 

Packflgc  yTM  a  rrf^ii  jhjdio  CK|Wrmce  .f,-.  i.>  L-*S- 

nL'flrt  give  ytnj  yivx-r  100  Irt-inyJr.H.  trf  I  lie  vciy  .ilf^ 
FunVRcx:k  mu*k  wllh  .hid  v\  r^jni  drum  tras  k\!  £  J I  .fli 
plu.H  |1  50  lor  5&l-  io  PERCUSSION  LXPRESS.  RO 
I3r>ic  1 7;Mr  RixIffeffdL  II  61 1 10.  Write  Or  call  icFriur  free 
I  Jl.ikiK  (fii5l%Ml47 


INSTRUCTION 

BOblON  AttbA:  StudlCr  Llm.  utkjiiy  Ktjrsfihjpe  S^pjd^  And 
(Ju  nev  i  lome  Lessons  Available-  We  teach  All  Slvtes, 
Al  In.  civ  Tes  l-nmll  (  dll  ■ir  WVjN>  F«r  Rnrj-hu  T"  I  birr  - 
£40  UtUTI  School,  1  2  Godidrd  SlrisK,  Suite  fll,  Qliai  Iiiv. 
MAD3IW  Ttf.  IfctJ)  77&1&37. 


SCHOOL  FOR  MUSICAL  PIRfORMANO.  $pte.oliE- 
^  in  PeJTUShiC^i:  iWrwl,  Vl3nr.itjFrt.ini,.'  .3rt{J  VLir  mSj.i 
i  mallet  technique  Hnvof  iflairutuoii  lur  ALL  iruiru- 
nx«|j.  Voice,  Theory  and  song^oliii^  Musical  threc- 
lor.  IJ..IV  d  KOv^rtA,  H  A  .  M.A  .  M  5.M  9ltJ  K|ftj0  HiKh- 
wav,  &uoJfclyrr  MV  11.123  71  ftl  MU  19m. 

pial-A-Rrat  by  peff  IndyRe.  OH  TSI6I  For 

Kicking  Drum  Hlik  uVw  I  hur  jihtii1i.'l  lnrw?vjhvi? 

wav  to  tea-m.  Cali'  Nto*d!  H  1 4oufa  M 

flallu.  Grjjil  MrjnOlGK  SludiO  cd  Drumm-n^.  H-.M.  dtrkk-! 
College  ejl  Music,  Towson  Slate  Uolws4v  Irw&uctor. 
Dhjfn*  HGcoWWl.  CSOni  747  STIX. 

ORANGE  COUNTY  CALIF  OR  S|A.  Ekjild  your  hands, 

develots^ick  CtMHrOl,  im|ir.-.iveyEH,r  rivdi-i'  skill''  Lear™ 
IP  lilt-  rr.ldillcin  ti^  Adi  to  Rich.  Fk-lhrm  Hiirn1.  (  AL  I 
F'hil  Mckscm(7Hl957 -2klb. 


Philadelphl-a  Areii:  Study  wilh  Vnidan  H'.idhelii  aullnir 
ol  " roWiNvEhm^' .  ’''Cc-tirdin.ift-d  Grooved,  ^tn^pn e- 
liv-  Srii.lcinK?'  .  Fw hiring  rk-  M^elltF  MerilrtxJ,  Rrxk 
.irvJ  I . d j?  .-  i  L>-m  Ljpr--.  Rc'.idi  i\i-.  Thoti^i  \in  ivtiklnjj  nuri-. 
nal  ior  dll  itytes  015J  ^4H-69,7e. 


NTf  VII  NYWllH  ffiHN SMNtACCft, 

fJNE  OF  ri-it  MOST  k-NOWLEGCABLE  PROS  IN  THE 
N'l  AREA.  ACCEPTING  ONLV  THE  SESIOUS-MImOED 
FOR  DRUM  IN«.rHLOFXN  ’‘’THf  PBOFfSIilON AL 
WAY'*.  MANHAt  IAN  AN U  SlATLN  ISLAND  STL'DK J 
LOCATIONS.  1 71S)  J5I-40ST 

STUDY  WITH  DRUM  CHARTS!  ^R.EE  GAIALLX;  h 
S.WKE!  DRUM  O-ARIS  INTERNATIONAL.  Sot  247- 
ini  NanuM  SV  linrK4-n?47 


In  rhr-  ST  Say  arr*  |uhn  X=ppi?ten^.  lulhnr  rh  fitvdrl*. 
itjT  Ffa'  f  L^urrij; .Mjr.fr;.-  is  accepting  w\on 

«ucfenh.  E.te^'ek:p  tlie  it  ills  needed  mr  inday's  Hn mi¬ 

ming.  (41  ii'W-2064-i 


AlLnrir  C ity  Phllacelphia .  Discover  NEW  &  UNIQUE 
jnrthndft  o(  dcrtlopinp,  musical  eerh^iqjue  & 
tte^t^iry  CjjFr-  ipcH^d  wiih  rj^fi  s-yMeiTi  All 
Armjrri  SanLriTi  P-£iCW-622  9S77. 

WANTED 

VINTAGE  DHL. MS!  1-mrnediiEe  ca^iade!  VUltajjP 
Drum  Center.  HMD)  72V-1  111.  15151  &93-36F  I . 


MUSICIANS  NATIONAL  KLFEKKAL.  HruP^sitr-idS  Mu- 
ski  ans  Seeking  flands^- Bands  SeekingTnsfi'msior.j  Mu- 
^ci&r|S.— RANdt  RFGiSTFR  TRFf.  Oil  n w  kjr  inlnr- 
mjlHici  0OOJ  Ttj&.44*7, 


WANTFD:  DRI IA1MFRS  TO  HFCElVE  FRFf  DRUM 
CHARTS  CATALOGS  USUM  CHARTS  INTERNA- 
ITONAL.  Box  M7-W0I.  Nanuel.  NY  I09S«247. 


WA  NTFD:  DRUM  PARTS-DR  UMS  ANY  MAKE.  WAN  1 

IO  h-LL  I  YGiiK  PARTS  DLP  I  i  CALL:  AL  DREWS  ML>- 
SLC(4D1I  7W-1R52 


5NI  ViJL.lR  UtL'MVC  VMHAL$ 
r  rt-f-  lining.  EX[HjSuie  1|>  Worldv!  de  ^sCwor  -  rn  ,priou? 

iMJver&.  IMMEDIATE  CASH!  VINTAGE  DRUM  BHCh 
HERS.  R-U  LCnx  ,Lh.  \.  K&cknway.  N^«  1 1  SUL® 3b 
RlhF  7bW16Jr  Fist  rSifijHkTfflGS. 

WANTED.  LUDWIG  clea^  Volatile  seal  ca«  throve. 
<4I5|- 


You’ll  be 
snared 
By 

BRADY  DRUMS 


ddmm 

Real  drums  never  sounded  so  good 
Digital  drums  never  felt  so  good 
25  Linde iran  Drive 
friimbulf,  CT  0661 1 

(203)  374-0020 


VATER 

PERCUSSION 

Qualify  Custom  Label  Drumsticks 
of  CPE  NAMES  AND  LOGO'S 
Tel  ti  617-767- 1677  FA*  617-767^010 
?LEASF  SEE  GLASSm 


SUM)  «• 


r 


OnOM  o F  M  AS.J-ii  CUV 

I'r-c-iestiona  Hroduclt  and  Service 
Grtut  In^nltiY  and  Prices 


(616)  361-1195 


KTAMA  9*?  JB 


CONGA  DRUM  S 

LESSONS  ON  VI  010  <sS^, 

Cuban  &njm  ra^L-tt  Rolaadu  Sofla,  r*ntw,rppnuaw(iia£| 
uF  :l*r  m^i  r  r.AL..iriM|.liV  h'limmu  ^ne  tfrrkrslru, 

IrajcRfi  traditional  ^fro-DihdB  rhutimn  Idral  Tnr  'brgiii- 
1?F t**t  PKpmrjfiruW  imtm mv&a  waul  Lu  rspaed 
iihcir  fcMiorJoigc 

OBi^innir^  □Adiaiwcd  Hag* 

WSSQJWbrrL  nr  intiFTiKiisnal  tfcspf  flrdrr  pins  S3 
ppiU^i-aiilRndlinj;  I.Sj  r«#hidr  ['■'t)  pn i^pr  io; 

TropICtJ  Fmdaclloih 

B3-fi  Cif^mUDrr  Hve,  VrBXfl  lakfarniu  USA 

 A*™  ^.  nvy 


YES  .  You  Can  Still  Buy  a 

3x13  Piccolo  Snarel 

*  Maple  Shell 

•  Custom  Contoured 

ONLY  $225.00 

mmimm 

PERCUSSION 

DESI0NED  A  PRODUCED  BY  DRUM  CITY 

L  402-^67- 'OGQ  1$13-55S4?S5 

Jcs  Veda'a  Drum  Chv  Kim.  &am'a  Dn.ni  Qty 
£«|th  a  1 0704  Psnift 

NE  U  D*  Son  Artslnle.  TK  J6ZI7 

PERCUSSION 
PARADISE 

•Sales 
•Repairs 
•Instruction 

"iDTJiT75  uji'pri? 

Your  Ming 

Jm^ginp 

ana  More" 

2MC*dwwn4i;.  finrtompil  YV1DM5 

Sffrttf  fl  QQ  tiff  HI  CfitHng 

Psfhdlso  Awerils  You!! 


A  01  AW 


SUCKS 

-  ^JZAWi  ON_.  J^S  • 

Satj^fsciion  Guaranteed 

Wr'H  famnT  any  advertized  price 

Call  &rWfile  tr?r  Fros  Flyar  ' 
p.o  Krai  10R  ■  .^rchtd-g.  FA 


MODERN  DRUMMER 


109 


next  month  in  FEBRUARY'S 

MODERN  DRUMMER... 


CHARLIE 

WATTS 


FREDERICK 

WAITS 


Plus: 

•DEEN  CASTRONOVO 

•  FESTIVAL'89  PICTORIAL 

and  Columns  by:  •  Jonathan  Mover 

•  Colin  Bailey 

•  Anthony  Cirone 

and  much  more.,  .don't  miss  it! 


ADVERTISER'S 

INDEX 


ABK  Rocks . 

Aquarian  Accessories . 

Mike  Balter  Mallets 

Sam  Barnard  . 

Berklee  College  of  Music  .... 
Brady  Snare  Drums  . 

Calato/Regal  Tip  . & . 

CMP  Records . 

Corder  Drum  Company . 

DC  1000  . . 

DCI  Video . - . 

ddrum..  . 

Drum  Doctors 

Drummers  Collective 

Drum  School  I  . 

Drums  on  Sale . 

Drumstix  . 

Drum  Workshop . 

Dauz  Designs 

Empire  Group  - . 

Evans  Products . . 

Explorers  Percussion . 

GC  Music  . 

Gretsch  . . ...... . 

Hart  Systems,  Inc . . 

Joe  Pet  . . 

Kaman  Music  Distributors . 

Latin  Percussion,  Inc . . 

Long  Island  Drum  Center 
Ludwig  Industries  .. 

M&K  Productions 

Mapex  Percussion  . . 

MD  Library  . 

Metalmorphosis/Bobby  Rock 

Monad  Publishing  ..  . 

Music  Source  International  . 
Musician's  Institute  . 


103 
. 52 

. 96 

.  94 

. .  100 

104,106,109 

.  58 

. 57 

58 

109 

.  73,93,99 

..  ..  52-109 

21 
89 
•  86 

. -  - . 39 

.  40 

1,36,72 

. ... .  56 

. 74 

. 56,63 

. 109 

.  61 

Inside  Back  Cover 

.  104 

.  57 

.  85 

74 

78 

101, Inside  Front  Cover 

. 59 

.  11 

.  105 

. 102 

. 71 

.  104 

98 


Noble  &  Cooley  - . 90 

Paiste . . . 37 

Pearl  International  .  16/17,59,66,95 

Percussion  Paradise  103 

Precision  Drum  Co . -.-63 

Premier  Percussion  USA  . 5 

Pro  Mark .  44,70,96 

PureCussion .  .  ...  13,15 

Remo  .  71,84,92 

Resurrection  Drums .  104 

RimSHOT  America .  ..  92 

Royce  Percussion  94 

Sabian . 54/55,81 

Sam  Ash  Music  Stores . 72 

Sapphire  Percussions  88 

Shark  Byte  Engineering  . 88 

Shure  Brothers  . 41 

Solid  Percussion,  Inc . 107 

Sonor  Percussion  . .  ,  . 9 

Tama  . 7,75,82,111 

Thank-you  from  Carl  Palmer  .  91 

Thoroughbred  Music  . 53 

Tropical  Productions . 109 

Vater  Percussion  .  70,109 

Vic  Firth,  Inc.  .  36,52,87 

Waddell's  Cymbal  Warehouse  . 109 

Glenn  Weber  Drum  Studio  . 109 

The  Woodwind  &  The  Brasswind  . 74 

Yamaha  . 6,67,69 

Zildjian  . . .  45, 47, 49, Outside  Back  Cover 


no 


MODERN  DRUMMER 


When  i I  comes  to 
drum  hardware1,  no  ^ 
one  has  been  more 
innovative  than  lama,., 
the  first  heavy  duty  hard¬ 
ware,!  he  first;  (double  braced 
stands,  the  first  boom  stands, 
the  first  multi-clamp  systems, 
the  first  non-mar  nylon  bush¬ 
ings  and  now,.. Titan  Stilt, 

A  straight  stand  is  one  of  the 
drummer's  most  used  tools^^ 
but  it  can  he  a  placement 
headache.  The  Tama  Stilt 


System  was  developed  to  over¬ 
come  tile  limitations  of  the  ordinary 
straight  stand.  Stilt's  simple  yet  effec¬ 
tive  tilling  capabilities  fill  the  void  that 
existed  between  straight  and  Itoom 
stands,,, and  at  the  cost  of  a  straight 
stand. 

This  Si  ill  tilling  feature  lias  been 
incorporated  into  the  entire  line  of 
our  ullra-heaw  duty  Titan  stands 
yielding  a  totalis  vmit|ue  look.  But  we 
haven’t  forgot  tint  what  has  a  I  wavs 
been  the  most  important  Tania 
feature— strength.  A  totally  rede¬ 


signed  die-rns!  tripod  joint  makes  our 
Titan  line  stronger  than  ever. 

Titan  Stilt.  ..New  Style. .  .New 
Strength. ..with  all  I  lie  quality  you 
expect  fr  om  lama. 

I^Mriov 

5r9  mWm^IAA/lA 

I  ni  I'm  I  mlhrmnliim  on  TAM  \  I hinhvim1  ptrti*<> 
vMiu-  n>;  riiiia,  n.‘pt.  Mi)L>m.  m  n»\  mi.  Hen- 
Siili'iii.  V\  11)020  *  J J 1  I'nidiinr  Wav.  I’oitmnn.  C\ 

amis -vuii  -  m  2000.  laiiim  Mill*.  in  si  my  ■ 

In  (Imnda:  2  Hi  t  1 4  a  I  h  \w  ,  I  .admit'.  yiirlH'f.  t  aiiadn 
IIS  121*1. 


>P6&fo  (fatten^ 


/ttex  *Vcui  Staled’ 


working-  u  \n  spT  vltote,  ftna 

"^Ssss-bs: 
sass^srn— * 


iirTYve 

*"•***%* 

needSmveev«> 

^rejection  is* 


and  Put 


fia^SiS; 


V" 


,  ,  lrom  Greisch  drums 

1 1  g^  rCT  rec0rd\ng 

‘JWjSSS- 

*  Wif 


;n  MV —  ,  Siam 

•£ZZ«e*"* 


_P  excising 
*n  tne  ^  ^(ore 


Rf/SC/Z 

1  ® 

Someday,  you’ll  own  Gretsefi. 


lGretschPlaza-Ri^^mr^^^9^^8(B^2^^^^^^86^HGn^>^^^mJ 


Z.  Zildjians.  Without  them,  today's  music  would  be  without 
much  of  its  edge. 

They  are  a  totally  new  design  in  cymbals  created  spe¬ 
cifically  to  cut  through  even  megawatt  amplification. 
Cymbals  like  Dy  no-beat  HiHats  and  Heavy  Power 
Rides  have  simply  become  standard  equipment 
for  contemporary  heavy  rock  drummers. 
Today's  rock  and  roll  calls  for  cymbals  with 
%  quick  response,  explosive  volume  poten- 

|  tial ,  a  nd  powerfu  1  projection.  Wh  ich  led 

us  to  combine  the  Zildjian  alloy  with 
|h  innovative  computer  hammering  tech¬ 
niques,  to  create  an  unlathed,  heavier, 
and  just  plain  louder  series  of  cymbals. 
Cymbals  with  their  own  distinctive  rock- 
1 1  musicality  that  sound  great  and  hold  up 
L/  under  even  the  heaviest  of  tech n iq  ues. 
Along  with  K's and  A's,  Z.  Zildjians  are 
in  the  kits  of  such  leading  rock  drummers 
as  Tommy  Aldridge,  Gregg  Bissonette,  Joey 
Kramer,  Randy  Castillo,  Rikki  Rockett,  and  Fred 
Cou iy.  ..and  should  likely  be  in  yours  as  wel  1 . 

The  Z's .  One  more  reason  that  more  of  the 
world's  great  drummers  play  / 

Zildjians  than  all  other  — i  f-V  ^ 
cymbals  combined.  f  I  Ail  x 


The  Only  Serious  Choke. 


©  B89The  Avodis  Zild|i.in  Gi.,  Lbngwater  Drive,  Noiwetl,  MA  02061